BS  2361  .M128  1897 
M'Clymont,  J.  A.  b.  1848. 
The  New  Testament  and  its 
writers 


The  New  Testament  and  Its  Writers 


1 6mo,  flexible  cloth,  each,  net^oc. 
The  Old  Testament  and  Its  Contents 

By  Professor  James  Robertson,  D.D. 

The  New  Testament  and  Its  Writers 

By  Rev.  J.  A.  McClymont,  D.D. 

Our  Lord's  Teaching 

By  Rev.  James  Robertson,  D.  D, 

Lessons  on  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark 

By  Rev.  A  Irvine  Robertson,  D.D. 

Studies  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 

By  Rev.  William  Robertson,  M.  A. 

Landmarks  of  Church  History 

Bv  Prof.  Henry  Cowan,  D.  D. 

Religions  of  the  World 

By  Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  of  Queen's  Uni- 
versity, Canada. 

A  Handbook  of  Christian  Evidences 

By  Rev.  Alexander  Stewart,  D.D. 

Expositions  of  the  Apostles*  Creed 

By  Rev.  J.  Dodds. 

The  Presbyterian  Churches: 

Their  Place  and  Power  in  Modern  Christen- 
dom.    By  Rev.  J.  N   Ogilvie.  M.A. 


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The   New  Testament 

and 

Its  Writers 

By  tl/e  Rev. 
J.   A.    M'Clymont 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


PREFACE 

My  friend  and  fellow-editor  has  asked  me  to  write 
a  preface  to  his  book.  I  think  the  book  will 
speak  for  itsel£  I  may  say,  however,  that  it  is 
a  very  impartial  outline  of  what  is  known  as 
Introduction  to  the  Books  of  New  Testament 
Scripture.  I  think  that  in  some  instances  the 
author  has  understated  the  case  for  the  canonicity 
of  a  particular  Book.  It  is  characteristic  of  his 
fairness  that  he  should  anxiously  avoid  taking  the 
place  of  a  mere  advocate. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  perfect  lucidity  of  his 
style  and  the  fulness  of  his  information  will  make 
this  a  valuable  text-book. 

A.  H.  CHAKTERIS. 


NOTE   TO    READER 


For  a  foil  statement  of  the  External  Evidences  for  the 
authorship  of  the  several  books,  see  Prof.  Charteris* 
Canonicity^  or  Bishop  Westcott's  History  of  the  New 
Testament  Canon. 

Canon  (from  a  Greek  word  meaning  a  measuring-rod) 
was  a  name  applied  to  Scripture  as  the  rule  of  faith. 

In  the  chapters  on  the  Gospels  no  attempt  is  made  to 
deal  with  the  question  of  alleged  recensions  of  original 
documents,  as  being  of  too  technical  and  at  the  same 
time  too  conjectural  a  nature  to  call  for  treatment  in  a 
work  of  this  kind. 

In  Scripture  References,  when  the  name  of  the  Book 
is  not  given,  the  citations  refer  to  the  Book  under 
discussion. 

When  Scripture  is  quoted,  the  words  of  the  Revised 


Version 

are 

given. 
R.V. 

^ 

Revised  Version. 

A.V. 

=: 

Authorised  Version, 

MS. 

s 

Manuscript, 
Compare, 

CONTENTS 


1.  The  New  Testament  .        •        •        •  1-4 

2.  The  Gospels 5'*  5 

3.  "The  Gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew"  16-20 

4.  "The  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark  **  ai-26 

5.  "  The  Gospel  according  to  St.  Luke  "  27-32 

6.  "  The  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  "  33-40 

7.  "The  Acts  of  the  Apostles"   •        •  4' -46 

8.  The  Epistles        .        .        .        •        •  47-48 
The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  .        •        •  48-51 

9.  "The    First    Epistle    of    Paul    the 

Apostle  to  the  Thessalonians  "    .  52-56 
•* The  Second   Epistle  of   Paul  the 

Apostle  to  the  Thessalonians  "    .  56-57 

10.  "The    First    Epistle    of    Paul    the 

Apostle  to  the  Corinthians"        .  58-64 

11.  "The  Second   Epistle   of  Paul   the 

Apostle  to  the  Corinthians"       .  65-69 

12.  "The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Gala- 

TIANS"        ...                       .           •  70-76 

13.  "The  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostli 

TO  the  Romans**      ....  77"^' 


VI  CONTENTS 


CHJkf,  »ACa» 

14.  Ths  Epistles  of  ths  Imfkisonmsnt  •  t^Ss 
**  The  Epistlk  or  Paul  the  Apostle 

TO  THE   PhILIPPIANS  "...         SS-QO 

15.  "The  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle 

TO  the  Colossians**       .        ,        ,      91-95 
••The  Epistle  op  Paul  to  Philemon**      95-98 

16.  ••The  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle 

to  the  Ephesians"       .        •        .     99-103 

17.  The  Pastoral  Epistles  .  .  .  104-105 
••The   First   Epistle  of   Paul   the 

Apostle  TO  Timothy  •• ,        .        ,  106-109 

18.  ••The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Titus"  ,  110-113 
••The  Second  Epistle  of  Paul  the 

Apostle  to  Timothy*.        .         .1x3-115 

19.  ••The  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle 

TO  the  Hebrews"         •         .        .  116-122 

2a  The  Catholic  Epistles     ,  .  123 

••The  General  Epistle  of  James**.  123-129 

21.  "The    First    Epistle    General    of 

Peter" 130-136 

22.  ••The   Second  Epistle  General  of 

Peter" i37-Mo 

••The  General  Epistle  of  Jude"    .  140-143 

23.  ••The  First  Epistle  General  OF  John**  144-146 
••The  Second  Epistle  of  John"  .  147-148 
••The  Third  Epistle  of  John"        .  14S-149 

24.  ••The  Revelation  of  St.  John  the 

DmNs* >5<^i55 


THE    NEW  TESTAMENT    AND 
ITS  WRITERS 


CHAPTER    I 

THB   NSW  TKSTAMElfT 

ITS  Name. — The  New  Testament  forms  the  second 
and  concluding  portion  of  the  Revelation  given  to 
the  world  in  the  line  of  Jewish  history.  It  derives  its 
name  from  an  expression  used  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  institution  of  the  rite  which  was  designed  to  com- 
memorate His  death— *•  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in 
my  blood  "  — more  correctly,  "  This  cup  is  the  new  covenant 
in  my  blood"  (R.V.),  in  contrast  with  the  old  covenant 
made  with  Moses  (Luke  xxii.  20;  Matt.  xxvi.  28;  i  Cor. 
XL  25;  cC  Exod.  xxiv.  8).  The  use  of  the  word  "testa- 
ment "  in  this  sense  was  due  to  the  Latin  testamentum^ 
which  was  early  adopted  as  an  equivalent  for  the  Greek 
word  meaning  "  covenant." 

Its  Language. — A  period  of  about  four  hundred 
jcars  had  elapsed  after  the  last  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  was  written  before  the  New  Testament  was 
commenced.  In  the  interval  the  Jewish  people,  spreading 
far  and  wide  in  the  pursuit  of  arts  and  commerce,  had 
become  familiar  with  the  Greek  tongue,  which  was  the 
intellectual  bond  of  the  civilised  world,  as  the  Roman 
empire  was  its  bond  in  a  social  and  political  sense.  Into 
this  language  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  had 
been  translated  from  the  Hebrew,  about  200  B.C.,  at  Alex- 
andria, the  great  meeting-place  of  Rabbinical  learning  and 
Hellenic  culture.  From  the  amalgamation  of  these  and 
other  elements  there  resulted  a  form  of  Greek  known  as  th« 
'or  Hellenistic  Greek.  It  waa  ia  thU  Un«:aa^ 
I 


a        NEW  TESTAMENT  Sf  ITS   WRITERS 

that  the  New  Testament  was  written — a  language  mar- 
vellously fitted  for  the  purpose,  both  because  of  the  wide 
prevalence  of  Greek  among  the  civilised  nations  of  the 
time  (resulting  from  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great), 
and  on  account  of  its  unrivalled  clearness,  richness,  and 
flexibility.  Hence  the  New  Testament  has  been  aptly 
described  as  having  **a  Greek  body,  a  Hebrew  soul, 
and  a  Christian  spirit  that  animates  them  both." 

Its  Contents. — The  New  Testament  Scriptures 
consist  of  twenty-seven  different  books,  varying  in  their 
form  and  character — the  first  in  order  mainly  historical, 
the  next  doctrinal,  and  the  concluding  portion  relating 
to  vision  and  prophecy.  This  is  an  order  somewhat 
analogous  to  that  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  many  of 
whose  characteristics  alike  as  regards  thought  and  expres- 
sion are  reflected  in  the  New  Testament.  The  twenty- 
seven  books  are  the  work  of  nine  different  authors  (assum- 
ing the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  have  been  written  by 
some  other  person  than  St.  Paul),  each  book  having  its 
special  characteristics  corresponding  to  the  personality  of 
its  writer  and  the  circumstances  in  which  it  was  written, 
but  all  forming  part  of  one  divine  whole  ^  centred  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  essentially  related  to  an  unseen 
world.  They  were  written  at  various  times,  but  all  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  first  century — except  perhaps  the  Epistle 
of  James,  which  was  probably  written  before  50  A.D. 

Its  Manuscripts. — The  original  MSS.  have  all 
perished.  If  written  on  papyrus  they  would  not  last, 
while  those  of  a  more  durable  substance  would  be  in 
frequent  danger  of  destruction  at  the  hands  of  per- 
secutors. Hence  the  vast  majority  of  extant  MSS.  are 
of  a  comparatively  modern  date — anterior,  however,  to 
the  invention  of  printing  in  1450,  when  the  copying  of 
MSS.  practically  ceased.  A  few  precious  copies  written 
on  vellum  or  parchment  have  come  down  to  us  from  a 
very  early  period,  the  most  important  of  which  are  (l) 
the  Vatican,  styled  Codex  B,  preserved  in  the  Vatican 
Library  at  Rome,  and  dating  from  the  fourth  century; 

1  "  The  most  remarkable  fact  in  literature  as  well  as  in  religioo."— 
PnC  CharUiif,  Tkt  Ntw  Ttstamtnt  ScripturUt  ff.  f. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 


(2)  the  Sinaitic  (Codex  t?),  discovered  by  Tischendorf  in 
St  Catherine's  Convent  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai  in 
1859,  now  deposited  at  St.  Petersburg,  hkewise  of  the 
fourth  century;  (3)  the  Alexandrine  (Codex  A),  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum,  and  dating  from  the  fifth 
century.  These  and  other  ancient  MSS.  to  the  number 
of  about  a  hundred  are  called  Uncials,  because  written 
with  capital  letters  without  any  separation  between  the 
words, — the  others  of  a  more  modem  character  being 
called  Cursives,  because  written  in  a  running  hand.  Of 
the  latter  there  are  about  2000 — an  immense  array  of 
witnesses  compared  with  the  few  MSS.  of  classical  works 
preserved  to  us,  which  can  generally  be  counted  on  the 
ten  fingers.  Owing  to  the  greater  liability  to  error  in 
copying  with  the  hand  than  in  the  use  of  the  printing 
press,  about  200,000  Various  Readings  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  extant  MSS.  of  the  New  Testament. 
Happily  the  differences  between  the  readings  are  for  the 
most  part  so  minute  that  they  do  not  affect  the  substance 
of  revealed  truth.  As  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  how- 
ever, to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  the  exact  words  of 
the  sacred  writers,  a  special  department  of  study  has 
been  instituted  commonly  known  as  Biblical  Criticism  or 
Textual  Criticism,  which  has  for  its  aim  to  adjudicate  on 
the  rival  claims  of  the  various  readings,  with  due  regard  to 
the  age  and  special  characteristics  of  the  several  manu- 
scripts, as  well  as  to  the  common  risks  of  misapprehension 
and  inadvertence  to  which  all  copyists  were  liable. 

Other  Witnesses.  —  In  the  performance  of  the 
difficult  and  delicate  task  just  mentioned  attention  must  be 
paid  to  two  other  valuable  sources  of  information,  (i) 
Those  writmgs  of  Church  Fathers — ranging  from  the 
end  of  the  first  century  to  the  fourth  or  fifth  century 
of  the  Christian  era — which  contain  quotations  firom  the 
New  Testament.  The  value  of  the  Fathers  as  a  help  in 
determining  the  exact  text  of  Scripture  is  a  good  deal 
impaired  by  the  fact  that,  not  having  the  advantage  of  a 
Concordance,  or  of  our  divisions  into  chapters  and  verses 
(an  invention  of  the  sixteenth  century),  they  frequently 
quote  from  memory  and  not  with  strict  accnxacy.     This 


4        A£IV  TESTAMENT  ts-  ITS    WRITERS 

ii  of  less  moment,  however,  when  the  object  is  not  so 
much  to  ascertain  the  precise  language  of  Scripture  as  to 
prove  the  existence  and  general  reception  of  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament  at  an  early  period  in  the  history 
of  the  Church.  (2)  Ancient  Versions  or  Translations, 
some  of  which  (for  example  the  Syriac  and  Old  Latin) 
were  made  within  a  century  after  the  time  of  the  apostles.' 
Iillglish  Versions. — The  first  English  Version  was 
completed  by  John  Wycliff  in  1383.  It  was,  how- 
ever, only  the  translation  of  a  translation  (the  Latin  Vul- 
gate of  St.  Jerome).  The  first  English  translation  from 
the  Greek  was  finished  by  William  Tyndale  in  1525, 
and  put  in  print  the  following  year  at  Worms.  This 
was  followed  by  Miles  Coverdale's  translation  of  the 
whole  Bible  in  1535,  the  Great  Bible,  usually  called 
Crannur's  (for  use  in  Churches),  in  1539,  the  Geneva 
BibU  in  1557,  the  Bishops'  Bible  in  1568,  and  J^ing 
/amts's  Bible  (the  Authorised  Version)  in  161 1.  The 
most  recent  and  reliable  results  of  Biblical  criticism  are 
embodied  in  the  Revised  Version  of  1881,  which  has  in 
this  respect,  as  in  regard  to  accuracy  of  translation,  an 
unquestionable  superiority  over  the  Authorised  Version, 
the  latter  having  been  made  at  a  time  when  the  science 
was  still  in  its  infancy,  and  before  any  of  the  three  great 
MSS.  above  referred  to  were  available  for  reference. 
Possibly  the  next  generation  may  see  further  improve- 
ments, as  the  result  of  a  closer  examination  of  MSS., 
Versions,  and  other  ancient  writings,  as  well  as  through 
an  enhanced  appreciation  of  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  the  light  of  the  Greek  translation  of  the 
Old  Testament  (the  Septuagint)  and  other  Hellenistic 
literature  ;  but  after  all,  any  points  in  which  our  English 
Bible  u  capable  of  improvement  are  infinitesimal  com- 
pared with  the  general  trustworthiness  of  its  contents. 
Of  its  imperfections  as  a  translation  it  may  be  said,  with 
scarcely  less  truth  than  of  obscurities  in  the  original,  that 
•*  like  the  spots  upon  the  surface  of  the  sim,  they  neither 
mar  the  symmetry  nor  impair  the  glory  of  the  great  Source 
of  o«ir  Life  and  Light  which  is  imaged  in  them.  • 

>  For  Notn  aa  the  Canon,  MSS.  and  Venicma,  and  Teztnd 
Criticiua,  mc  enlarged  edition  of  tiiis  book,  pp.  8-x8. 


THE  GOSPELS 


CHAPTER    n 
THI  GOSPBLt 

'I'lLtim  Name  and  Nature.— At  the  head  of  the 

•*•  New  Testament  stand  the  four  Gospels,  This 
position  has  been  fitly  assigned  to  them,  because,  al- 
though by  no  means  the  earliest  written  of  the  New 
Testament  Books,  they  contain  a  record  of  the  life  and 
ministry  of  Jesus  Christ  which  forms  the  comer-stone  of 
the  whole  fabric — Christianity  being  essentially  a  his- 
torical religion,  basing  its  doctrines  not  on  fancy  but  on 
fact.  The  name  gospel,  which  is  the  Saxon  equivalent 
for  a  word  in  the  original  meaning  "good  tidings,"  was 
originally  applied  to  Christ's  preaching  (Matt  iv.  23  ; 
Mark  L  15),  and  that  of  the  apostles  (i  Cor.  ix.  16). 
In  course  of  time  it  came  to  be  applied  also  to  the  books 
containing  a  record  of  the  great  facts  and  truths  which 
formed  the  substance  of  that  preaching.  One  of  the 
earliest  writers  to  use  the  word  in  this  sense  is  Justin 
Martyr,  who  wrote  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century.*  He  frequently  refers  to  Memoirs  composed 
by  the  apostles  and  their  companions,  to  which  he 
applies  the  name  of  "Gospels";  and  he  informs  us 
that  they  were  read  along  with  the  writings  of  the 
prophets  at  the  meetings  for  Christian  worship  each 
Lord's  Day. 

*  Builides  (las  a.d.X^  qnoted  by  Hippolyms,  dte«  John  L  9 
as  " said  in  th4  Gosptlx"  out  some  think,  without  much  reason, 
that  the  words  are  to  be  referred  to  one  of  Basilides'  school  merely 
Another  instance  has  been  found  in  the  newly-discovered  Af>ology 
tjf  Arittidst  (135-40  A.D.)  which  mentions  "the  sacred  writing 
«hich  amonz  them  (the  Christians)  is  called  Gospel"  (literally 
'*«vaiigelic'> 


6        NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

Their  Authenticity. — That  the  Memoirs  to  which 
Justin  refers  are  the  same  as  the  Gospels  which  we  now 
possess  may  be  inferred  from  the  circumstance  that  almost 
all  the  facts  concerning  Christ's  life  which  he  mentions 
in  about  200  scattered  passages  of  his  writings  are  found  in 
one  or  other  of  the  four  Gospels,  while  in  all  the  express 
quotations — seven  in  number — which  he  makes  from 
the  Memoirs  the  words  quoted  are  also  to  be  found  in 
our  Gospels.  This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  the  fact 
that  about  twenty  years  later  (170  A.D.)  a  disciple  of 
Justin  named  Tatian,  a  well-informed  and  far-travelled 
man,  drew  up  in  the  Syriac  language  a  sort  of  harmony 
of  the  four  Gospels  (called  Diatessaron),  which  had 
a  very  large  circulation  in  the  East.  An  Arabic  trans- 
lation of  this  work  and  a  Syriac  commentary  on  it 
have  recently  been  discovered,  from  which  it  is  evident 
that  the  four  Gospels  on  which  Tatian's  work  was 
founded  were  identical  with  ours.  In  the  Muratorian 
Fragment^  also,  there  is  a  list  of  New  Testament  books, 
which  most  critics  assign  to  about  170  A.D.,  where 
the  Gospels  of  Luke  and  John  are  mentioned  as  third 
and  fourth,  the  other  two  being  apparently  mentioned  in 
a  part  of  the  MS.  now  lost.  If  further  corroboration 
be  needed,  we  have  it  in  the  universally-admitted  fact 
that  fifteen  years  later  (185  A. D.)  the  four  Gospels  which 
we  possess  were  circulated  in  all  parts  of  Christendom — 
in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa — in  thousands  of  copies  for 
the  use  of  the  innumerable  Christians  who  heard  them 
read  at  their  weekly  meetings  for  worship. 

For  these  reasons  it  seems  to  admit  of  no  doubt  that 
Justin  Martyr's  Gospels  were  the  same  as  ours  ;  and  it  is 
easy  to  trace  them  back  through  a  series  of  still  earlier 
writers  to  the  testimony  of  the  apostles.  We  know 
that  Marcion  the  Gnostic^  (140  A. D.)  built  his  system 

1  The  Gnostics  (who  derived  their  name  from  a  Greek  word 
meaning  knowledge)  claimed  a  deejjer  insight  into  the  mysteries  of 
religion  than  was  possessed  by  the  ordinary  believer.  But  they 
always  professed  to  be  indebted  for  this  knowledge  to  their  fuller 
comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  Scripture.  Hence  the  frequency 
of  their  appeals  to  the  New  Testament  writings. 


THE  GOSPELS 


largely  on  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  of  which  he  published 
a  mutilated  edition  known  as  Marcion's  Luke.  In 
contrast  with  Marcion,  TertuUian  places  Valentinus, 
another  Gnostic  (140-160  a.d.),  as  one  who  used  the 
canon  in  its  entirety.  A  prominent  witness  is  Papias 
(Bishop  of  Hierapolis),  who  wrote  an  Exposition  of 
the  OracUs  of  Our  Lord  about  135  A.D.,  when  he  was 
an  old  man.  Among  other  things  which  he  had  gathered 
from  personal  intercourse  with  friends  of  the  apostles  and 
with  two  disciples  of  the  Lord  (one  "the  Elder  John  "), 
he  tells  the  circumstances  under  which  Matthew  wrote 
his  OracUs  and  Mark  his  OracUs  of  the  LordA  Still  earlier, 
we  find  many  quotations  more  or  less  exact  from  onr 
Gospels  in  the  lately  -  discovered  "Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles"  (dating  from  the  end  of  the  first  or 
the  early  part  of  the  second  century)  in  the  language 
of  Basilides  (125  A.D.),  who  wrote  twenty-four  books 
an  "the  Gospel,"  and  in  the  short  extant  writings  of 
Polycarp  (a  disciple  of  the  Apostle  John,  martyred  155 
A.D.),  of  Hermas  and  "Barnabas"  (early  in  the  second 
century),  and  of  Clement  of  Rome  (close  of  first  century). ^ 
They  are  also  found  in  all  MSS.  of  iS"  Syriac  and  Old 
Latin  Versions — both  of  which  are  known  to  have  existed 
in  the  second  century.  To  this  we  may  add  that  in  the 
undisputed  epistles  of  Paul,  written  within  a  generation 
after  our  Lord's  death,  there  are  numberless  allusions  to 
Christ's  history,  teaching,  and  example,  which  harmonise 
with  the  facts  recorded  in  the  four  Gospels. 

In  these  circumstances  we  may  challenge  those  who 
throw  doubt  on  the  credibility  of  the  Gospels  to  show 
at  what  period  it  was  even  possible  for  forgery  or  falsifica- 
tion to  be  perpetrated,  and  perpetrated  so  successfully 
as  to  impose  upon  all  branches  of  the  Church,  leaving  its 

»  Cf.  p.  ai. 

'  The  extant  Christian  writings  of  the  first  centtiry  (other  than  the 
New  Testament)  are  extremely  meagre,  while  the  writings  of  the 
second  century  till  near  its  close  are  mainly  defences  of  Christianity 
(Apologies)  addressed  to  unbelievers,  with  fewer  quotations  frum  the 
New  Testament  than  if  they  had  been  intended  for  members  of  the 
Church.  But  the  substance,  and  even  the  language,  of  our  Gospels  it 
woveo  into  the  earliest  Christian  writings  that  have  come  down  to  oi. 


s        NBW  TESTAMENT  6»  ITS  WRITERS 

members  and  teachers  utterly  unconscious  of  the  deception 
that  had  been  practised  on  them — and  this,  in  matters 
aflfecting  the  most  vital  interests  of  the  Church's  faith, 
regarding  which  the  apostles  had  been  testifying  ever 
since  the  day  of  Pentecost  on  which  they  began  to  preach 
In  the  name  of  their  Risen  Master. 

Of  the  estimation  in  which  the  Gospels  were  held 
we  may  judge  from  the  words  of  Irensus,  a  disciple  of 
Polycarp,  who,  towards  the  close  of  the  second  century, 
speaks  of  the  written  Gospel  as  '*  the  foundation  and 
pillar  of  our  faith  *' ;  and  says  regarding  the  Scriptures — 
which  he  defines  to  be  the  writings  both  of  prophet  and 
evangelist — "  the  Scriptures,  being  spoken  by  the  Wocd 
and  Spirit  of  God,  are  perfect.  "^ 

Their  Origin. — For  many  years,  probably  for  more 
than  a  generation,  after  the  death  of  Christ,  there  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  any  authorised  record  of  His 
life  and  teaching  in  the  Church.  The  charge  which  the 
apostles  had  received  from  their  Master  was  to  preeuk 
the  Gospel,  and  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  had  been 
expressly  connected  with  the  bearing  of  oral  testimony 
(Matt  X.  19,  20).  As  they  had  received  nothing  in 
writing  from  their  Master's  hands,  it  was  not  likely  they 
would  tee  any  necessity  for  a  written  Word  so  long  as 
they  were  able  to  fulfil  their  commission  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  especially  as  they  were  looking  for  a  speedy 
return  of  their  Lord,  and  had  no  idea  that  so  many 
centuries  were  to  elapse  before  the  great  event  should 
take  place.  The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  was  enough 
to  tax  their  energies  to  the  utmost ;  and  the  task  of  com- 
mitting to  writing  was  not  more  alien  to  the  customs  ok 
their  nation  than  it  would  be  uncongenial  to  their  own 
habits  as  tmeducated  Galilseans.  Hence  we  can  readily 
understand  how  it  was  that  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures, 
to  which  the  apostles  constantly  appealed  for  proof  that 
Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  continued  to  be  for  many  years 

1  Tbe  genaineness  of  the  fourth  Gospel  b  tpecially  dealt  with  h 
chapu  vi..  vbere  additional  evidence  will  be  foand  •ocdallv  aP^So> 
able  to  that  GospeL 


THR  GOSPELS 


the  only  inspired  writings  acknowledged  by  the  Christian 
Church.  A  New  Testament  in  our  sense  of  the  tenn 
was  something  which  the  apostles  never  dreamt  of ;  and 
it  is  not  to  the  design  of  man,  but  to  the  inscrutable  in- 
fluence of  the  divine  Spirit  and  the  overruling  working 
of  divine  Providence,  that  we  owe  the  composition  of 
oor  Gospels  before  the  apostles  and  other  eyewitnesses 
of  the  Saviour's  ministry  had  passed  away.  Drawn  up 
without  concert  and  without  the  formal  sanction  of  the 
Church,  they  contain  in  a  simple  form,  suitable  for  all 
ages  and  for  all  classes,  several  independent  records  of 
Christ's  life  and  teaching,  of  which  it  may  be  said  with 
truth  that  they  are  better  authenticated  and  more  nearly 
contemporaneous  with  the  events  than  almost  any 
other  record  we  possess  in  connection  with  any  period 
of  ancient  history.  Their  dignity  and  truthfulness  are 
only  rendered  the  more  conspicuous  by  the  worthless- 
ness  and  folly  of  the  apocryphal  gospels  invented  at  a 
later  period,  which  were  designed  not  so  much  to  meet 
the  spiritual  wants  of  the  Church  as  to  grati^  an  idle 
curiosity. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  two  of  onr  Gospels  do  not 
claim  to  have  been  written  by  apostles,  but  only  by  com- 
panions of  apostles;  and  that  of  the  other  two  only 
one  bears  the  name  of  an  apostle  of  eminence.  This  is, 
BO  far,  a  confirmation  of  their  genuineness ;  for  if  they 
had  been  forgeries  claiming  an  authority  to  which  they 
were  not  entitled,  they  would  have  been  pretty  sure  to 
claim  it  in  the  highest  form.  The  same  circumstance 
also  shows  that  the  apostles  generally  did  not  regard 
it  as  a  duty  to  record  their  testimony  in  writing. 

In  the  discharge  of  their  commission  as  preachers  of 
the  Gospel,  they  doubtless  followed  the  practice  which 
was  common  in  the  East  of  trusting  to  memory  rather 
than  to  written  documents ;  and  as  the  Church  ex- 
tended, and  they  were  no  longer  able  to  minister 
personally  to  the  wants  of  their  converts  or  of  those 
who  required  to  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them 
it  would  become   their  duty  to   train   evangelists  and 


lo      NEW  TESTAMENT  &•  ITS   WRITERS 

catechists  to  assist  them  in  the  work.  In  preaching 
to  the  heathen,  it  would  only  be  the  leading  facts  <rf 
Christ's  life  that  would  require  to  be  proclaimed,  but  in 
the  instruction  of  those  who  had  already  accepted  the 
message  of  salvation  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  more 
into  detail,  and  set  Christ  before  them  as  a  guide  and 
pattern  in  their  daily  life.  This  instruction  was  doubt- 
less given  in  an  oral  form,  the  scholars  repeating  the 
lesson  again  and  again  after  their  teachers — which  it 
the  meaning  of  the  word  •*  instructed  "  ^  in  Luke  i.  4. 
We  have  another  trace  of  such  systematic  instruction 
m  the  expression  used  in  Acts  iL  42  :  ••  They "  (the 
converts)  "continued  stedfastly  in  the  apostles'  teaching." 
The  history  of  Christ's  life  and  teaching  was  that 
originally  set  forth  not  in  the  form  of  a  chronological 
narrative  but  rather  as  a  series  of  lessons  imparted  by 
the  apostles  and  their  fellow  -  labourers  as  occasion 
required,  or  "to  meet  the  needs  of  their  hearers,** 
as  one  of  the  early  Church  Fathers  (Papias)  sajrt, 
referring  to  Peter's  style  of  preaching.  During  the 
twelve  years  or  more  that  elapsed  before  the  dis- 
persion of  the  apostles  from  Jerusalem,  a  recognised 
course  of  instruction  had  doubtless  gained  currency  in 
the  Church,  corresponding  to  St.  Peter's  definition  of 
the  period  in  the  life  of  Christ  which  was  the  proper 
subject  for  apostolic  testimony — '*  Beginning  from  the 
baptism  of  John  unto  the  day  that  he  (Jesus)  was  received 
up  from  us  "  (Acts  i.  22).  With  this  agree  the  speciment 
of  apostolic  preaching  contained  in  the  Book  of  Acts 
(iv.  19,  20;  X.  36-43;  xiii.  23-31),  as  well  as 
the  allusions  which  the  apostles  make  in  their  epistles 
to  the  Gospel  preached  by  them  and  the  knowledge 
of  Christ's  life  acquired  by  their  converts.  A  close 
examination  of  such  passages  makes  it  evident  that, 
while  Christ  Jesus  was  the  constant  theme  of  the 
apostles'  preaching,  they  dwelt  chiefly  on  the  great  facts 
that  formed  the  consummation  of  His  ministry — His 
sofiferings,  death,  and  resurrection  ;  and  we  may  r^ard  it 
Tanght  by  word  of  mouth  by  dint  of  repetitiotii 


THE  GOSPELS 


u  an  evidence  of  the  faithfulness  with  which  our  Gospels 
reflect  the  earliest  preaching  and  teaching  of  the  apostles, 
that  they  give  such  prominence  to  the  closing  scenes  of 
our  Lord's  history.  We  have  another  token  of  their 
authenticity  in  the  fact  that  they  narrate  events  not  in 
the  light  shed  upon  them  by  the  subsequent  teaching  of 
the  Spirit,  but  as  they  were  actually  regarded  by  the 
disciples  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence,  long  before  the 
publication  of  the  Gospels. 

It  would  seem  that  before  our  Gospels  were  composed, 
attempts  had  been  made  by  private  persons  to  draw  up 
a  connected  history  of  the  Saviour's  life,  or  at  least  of 
His  ministry.  Such  attempts  are  referred  to  by  St 
Luke  in  the  preface  to  his  Gospel  (i.  1-4).  It  b  evident 
that  he  is  alluding  to  other  documents  than  the 
Gospels  we  possess,  both  because  he  speaks  of  them  as 
"  many,"  in  a  tone  scarcely  consistent  with  the  respect 
due  to  apostolic  records,  and  because  a  comparison  of  the 
four  Gospels  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  he  could  not 
have  had  any  of  the  three  others  before  him  when  he  drew 
up  his  narrative.  Whatever  part  the  previously-existing 
documents  referred  to  by  Luke  may  have  had  in  deter- 
mining the  shape  in  which  the  oral  Gospel  was  finally 
to  be  recorded,  all  of  them  were  ultimately  superseded 
by  our  present  Gospels,  in  whose  preservation  and 
triumph  we  may  see  an  illustration,  in  the  highest  sense, 
of  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest" 

Their  Diversity. — On  a  comparison  of  the  several 
Gospels,  a  marked  difference  is  at  once  apparent  between 
the  fourth  and  the  three  preceding  ones.  The  latter 
are  called  Synoptical,  because  they  give  in  one  common 
view  the  same  general  outline  of  the  ministry  of  Christ 
— an  outline  that  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  His 
ministry  in  Galilee  and  includes  only  one  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem ;  whereas  the  fourth  Gospel  gives  an  account 
of  no  less  than  five  visits  to  the  capital,  and  lays  the 
scene  of  the  ministry  chiefly  in  Judaea.  A  still  more 
important  distinction  between  them,  with  regard  to  the 
nature  of  their  contents,  has  been  briefly  expressed  by 


12      NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS    WRITERS 

designating  the  synoptical  Gospels  as  the  bodily  Gospels, 
and  St.  John's  as  the  spiritual  Gospel — by  which  it  is 
meant  that  the  former  relate  chiefly  to  outward  events 
connected  with  the  Saviour's  visible  presence,  reported 
for  the  most  part  without  note  or  comment,  while 
the  latter  is  designed  to  represent  the  ideal  and  heavenly 
side  of  His  personality  and  work.  Akin  to  this 
distinction  is  the  fact  that  the  first  three  Gospels  report 
Christ's  addresses  to  the  multitude^  consisting  largely 
of  parabUsy  while  the  fourth  Gospel  contains  discourses 
of  a  more  sublime  character,  frequently  expressed  in  the 
language  of  allegory  and  addressed  to  the  inrter  eirck  of 
His  followers. 

When  we  enter  into  a  closer  examination  oi  the  three 
synoptic  Gospels  and  compare  them  with  one  another, 
we  find  an  amount  of  similarity  in  detail,  extending  even 
to  minute  expressions  and  the  connection  of  individual 
incidents,  combined  with  a  diversity  of  diction,  arrange- 
ment, and  contents,  which  it  has  hitherto  baffled  the  ingen- 
uity  of  critics  to  explain  fully.  A  general  idea  of  their 
mutual  relations  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
comparison.  If  the  contents  of  each  Gospel  be  reckoned 
lOO,  the  relative  proportion  of  those  things  in  which  a 
Gospel  agrees  with  one  or  other  of  its  fellows  to  those 
things  in  which  it  stands  alone  would  be  as  follows : — 


Peculiarities. 

CoiDcidenc 

St  Matthew 

42 

58 

St  Mark 

7 

93 

St.  Luke 

59 

41 

It  is  found  that  the  coincidences  in  language  are  much 
fewer  than  they  are  in  substance — which  is  only  what 
might  have  been  expected,  if  the  several  accounts  are 
derived  from  independent  witnesses.  Reckoning  the 
material  coincidences  in  St.  Matthew  to  be  58  as  above, 
the  verbal  coincidences  would  only  amount  to  16  or 
17  ;  in  St  Mark  the  former  would  be  93  as  compared 
with  17  of  the  latter ;  in  St  Luke  41  as  compared  with 
10.     It  further  appears  that  by  fax  the  greater  number  oi 


THE  GOSPELS  13 


these  verbal  coincidences  are  met  with  in  the  report  of 
9ur  Lorcfs  discourses  and  other  sayings^  a  circumstance 
which  confirms  vis  in  the  belief  that  the  Gospel  was 
handed  down  for  a  number  of  years  in  an  orsd  form, 
as  the  preachers  and  teachers  would  feel  boand  to 
adhere  strictly  to  the  very  words  in  cases  of  reported 
speech,  whereas  they  would  be  under  no  such  obligation 
in  the  narration  of  events.  As  regards  the  latter,  a 
considerable  modification  of  the  oral  Gospel  would  natur- 
ally take  place  during  the  long  period  that  elapsed  before 
it  was  committed  to  writing.  The  modification  would 
vary  in  different  parts  of  the  Church  ;  and  it  is  in  this 
way,  as  well  as  by  taking  into  account  the  possibilities  of 
fresh  lessons  being  added  from  time  to  time  by  those  who 
had  been  *•  eyewitnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word" 
(Luke  L  2),  that  we  can  best  account  for  differences,  both 
in  expression  and  in  substance,  which  would  otherwise 
seem  unaccountable.  If  the  apostles'  teaching  was 
originally  given  in  Aramaic — the  form  of  Hebrew  then 
spoken  in  Palestine — and  had  to  be  translated  into  Greek 
by  the  catechists,  this  would  help  still  further  to  aocovnt 
for  the  diversity  we  meet  with  in  the  Gospels. 

Their  Harmony. — It  is  possible  that  further  study 
and  investigation  may  shed  more  light  on  the  historical 
and  literary  relations  of  the  four  Gospels,  but  meantime 
it  is  clear  that  the  true  way  to  discern  their  harmony 
is  not  to  attempt  to  piece  them  together  in  the  vain  hope 
of  forming  a  complete  chronological  history,  but  to  study 
each  from  its  own  point  of  view  and  learn  from  it  what  it 
has  to  teach  concerning  the  many-sided  life  and  character 
of  Jesus  Christ.  No  one  Gospel  could  possibly  do  justice 
to  the  infinite  significance  of  the  great  theme ;  and  in- 
stead of  causing  perplexity,  the  existence  of  four  different 
Gospels  should  rather  be  matter  of  thankfulness,  as  setting 
Christ  before  us  in  so  many  different  aspects  of  His 
divinely  human  personality,  much  in  the  same  way  as 
various  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  set  Him  forth 
prophetically  under  the  several  aspects  of  prophet,  priest, 
lawgiver,  and  king. 


14      /^£W  TESTAMENT  &•  JTS    WRITERS 

From  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  Gospels  are  neces 
isunXy  fragmentary,  as  indicated  by  St.  John  when  he 
says  ••  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesos  did, 
the  which,  if  they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose 
that  even  the  world  itself  would  not  contain  the  books 
that  should  be  written  "  (xxi.  25).  The  same  writer  gives 
us  a  key  to  the  interpretation  of  his  Gospel  when  he  says, 
•*  These  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  that,  believing,  ye  may  have 
life  in  his  name  "  (xx.  3 1 ).  In  like  manner  each  of  the 
other  Gospels,  while  historical  in  its  character,  is  aai- 
mated  by  a  special  purpose  of  its  own  with  its  apprO' 
priate  grouping  and  selection  of  events.  Owing  to  the 
frequent  change  of  scene  and  audience  in  Christ's  ministry, 
the  historical  sequence  could  not  be  strictly  adhered  to 
by  any  one  desirous  to  trace,  from  any  point  of  view,  the 
progress  of  His  teaching.  At  the  same  time,  there  was 
a  gradual  development  in  Christ's  ministry,  culminating 
in  His  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension ;  and  this  gradual 
advance  we  find  reflected  in  each  of  the  four  Gospels. 

Unity  amid  diversity, — this  is  what  we  have  to  look 
for  in  the  Gospels,  as  in  the  Scriptures  generally ;  and 
of  this  we  have  a  token  in  the  time-honoured  fancy  of 
the  Church,  by  which  the  four  Gospels  are  likened  to 
the  four-visaged  cherubim,  having  the  faces  of  a  man, 
a  lion,  an  ox,  and  an  eagle.  This  comparison  has 
been  variously  applied,  but  the  interpretation  followed 
in  modem  works  of  art,  after  St.  Jerome,  identifies  the 
four  faces  with  the  Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John  respectively,  as  setting  forth  the  human,  the 
conquering,  the  sacrificial,  and  the  heaven  -  regarding 
aspects  of  Christ's  being.  We  shall  probably  be  nearer 
the  truth,  however,  if  we  say  that  while  the  first  Gospel 
sets  forth  Christ's  life  and  teaching  with  reference  to  the 
past^  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Gospel 
of  Mark  exhibits  that  life  in  the  present  as  a  manifestation 
of  the  activity  and  power  so  congenial  to  the  Roman 
mind ;  St  Luke,  as  a  Greek,  depicts  it  in  its  catholic 
and  oomprehensive  character,  as  destined  in  the  future 


THE   GOSPELS 


lo  embrace  within  its  saving  influence  all  the  kindreds 
of  the  Gentiles ;  while  the  fourth  Gospel  represents  it  in 
its  absolute  perfection  as  it  is  related  to  the  Father  in 
itemity. 

While  there  b  no  such  thing  as  uniformity  in  Scripture 
any  more  than  in  Nature  or  the  Church,  there  is  an 
essential  and  deep-lying  unity  which  cannot  be  broken 
without  serious  injury  to  the  truth.  The  right  way 
to  use  the  Gospels  is  to  combine  their  various 
testimony,  allowing  each  to  tell  its  story  in  its  own 
way  and  to  contribute  its  allotted  part  to  a  full  and 
adequate  conception  of  the  Lord's  personality  and  work. 
While  each  possesses  a  distinct  individuality  of  its  own, 
they  may  and  ought  to  be  united  in  order  to  form  a 
complete  and  grander  whole.  In  this  sense  they  have 
been  likened  to  the  four  parts  of  music,  which  may 
be  sung  apart,  but  blend  together  to  form  a  perfect 
harmony.  A  striking  parallel  has  been  drawn  by 
Bishop  Westcott  between  the  work  of  the  first  three 
evangelists  and  the  threefold  portrait  of  Charles  I.  (taken 
from  three  different  points  of  view)  which  Vandyke  pre- 
pared for  the  sculptor  ;  while  Archdeacon  Farrar  fur- 
nishes a  beautiful  illustration  when  he  says  that  "the  first 
three  evangelists  give  us  diverse  aspects  of  one  glorious 
landscape  ;  St.  John  pours  over  that  landscape  a  flood 
of  heavenly  sunshine  which  seems  to  transform  its  very 
character,  though  every  feature  of  the  landscape  remains 
the  same."! 

^  1  Vf'iih  regard  to  th«  harmony  of  the  four  Gospels  in  matters  of 
historical  detail,  while  it  is  true  that  we  meet  with  apparent  discrep 
ancies  which  it  would  require  more  complete  information  than  we 
possess  to  explain  fully,  yet  on  the  other  hand  there  are  many  case 
of  undesigned  harmony  which  afford  positive  evidence  of  their  his 
torical  accuracy  and  truthfulness.  (See  Blunts  Scri^mxU  Cot.'- 
cidencu.) 


i6     NEW  TESTAMENT  6»  ITS   WRlTEKi> 


CHAPTER   III 

*TRS  GOSPBL  ACCORDING  TO  ST.   MATTHEW* 

ITS  Autlior.  —  St  Matthew's  Gospel  has  beai 
described  by  one  who  can  scarcely  be  accused  of 
partiality  (M.  Renan)  as  **  the  most  important  book  ol 
Christendom — the  most  important  book  that  has  ever 
been  written."  Its  importance  is  derived,  not  from  the 
genius  of  the  writer,  but  from  the  grandeur  of  the  subject. 
According  to  the  unanimous  tradition  of  the  ancient 
Church,  as  preserved  in  the  title  which  this  Gospel  has 
borne  ever  since  the  second  century  and  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  the  early  Church  Fathers  beginning 
with  Papias  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century,  the 
writer  of  the  book  was  Matthew,  one  of  the  twelve 
apostles.  But  for  his  authorship  of  this  book,  Matthew 
would  have  been  one  of  the  least-known  of  the  apostles, 
as  neither  Scripture  nor  tradition  gives  us  much  informa- 
tion regarding  him.  Not  a  single  word  or  act  of  his 
after  he  became  a  disciple  of  our  Lord  is  recorded  in  the 
Gospels ;  and  in  the  Book  of  Acts  his  name  is  never 
mentioned  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  He  is  evidently  to  be  identified  with 
Levi  the  publican  (Mark  ii.  14,  15;  Luke  v.  27-29; 
of.  Matt.  ix.  9,  10),  although  it  is  only  in  his  own 
Gospel  (x.  3)  that  the  despised  term  •'publican"  is 
associated  with  his  apostolic  name  of  Matthew  ("the 
gift  of  God "),  which  was  probably  given  to  him  when 
he  was  called  to  the  apostleship,  as  Simon's  name  was 
changed  to  Peto;     H«  aeeias  to  haTe  been  c  man  gf 


ST.  MATTHEW 


worldly  means  and  of  a  generous  disposition,  judging 
from  the  fact  that  on  the  occasion  of  his  apostolic  call, 
when  **  he  forsook  all,  and  rose  up  and  followed " 
Jesus,  he  made  '*  a  great  feast "  to  which  he  invited  a 
number  of  his  old  associates.  It  is  noteworthy  that  he 
leaves  it  to  the  other  evangelists  to  mention  him  as 
the  giver  of  this  feast  and  to  record  his  sacrifice  of 
property  in  following  Christ  ;  while  we  have  a  further 
token  of  his  modesty  in  the  fact  that  he  puts  the  name  of 
Thomas  before  his  own  in  the  list  of  apostles,  reversing 
the  order  followed  in  the  other  Gospels.  Traces  of  the 
writer's  profession  as  a  tax-gatherer  have  been  found  in 
his  use  of  the  term  "tribute  money"  (xxii.  19),  where  the 
other  evangelists  employ  the  more  common  word  "penny" 
(Mark  xii.  15  ;  Luke  xx.  24) ;  and  in  his  repeated  use  of 
the  word  '•publicans'*  (v.  46,  47),  where  Luke  employs 
the  word  "sinners"  (Luke  vi.  32,  33).  But  perhaps  the 
latter  instance  is  an  indication  rather  of  his  nationality. 

According  to  an  ancient  tradition  derived  from  Papias, 
Matthew  wrote  his  Gospel  in  Hebrew, — to  which  Irenaeus 
adds  that  he  published  it  among  the  Jews  "  while  Peter 
and  Paul  were  preaching  in  Rome  and  founding  the 
Church  there. "  Eusebius  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century  tells  us  that  Matthew  wrote  it  when  he  was 
about  to  leave  the  Jews  and  preach  also  to  other  nations, 
in  order  to  *'  fill  up  the  void  about  to  be  made  in  his  ab- 
sence." If  this  tradition  be  correct,  the  Hebrew  original 
must  have  been  very  soon  superseded  by  the  Greek  Gospel 
which  we  now  possess.  This  was  only  to  be  expected, 
considering  the  growing  disuse  of  Hebrew,  and  the 
gradual  lapse  of  the  Jewish  Christians  into  a  heresy  which 
alienated  them  from  the  rest  of  the  Church.*  Whether 
the  Gospel  was  written  over  again  by  Matthew  in  Greek, 
or  translated,  perhaps  under  his  supervision,  by  some 
other  writer,  is  a  question  which  we  cannot  well  answer. 

1  The  Ebionite  heresy,  so  named  from  a  Hebrew  word  meaning 
PooTj  the  early  Jewish  Christians  being  noted  for  their  poverty. 
Their  heresy  consisted  for  the  most  part  in  holding  the  continuwi 
obligation  of  the  Jewish  Law,  and  denying  the  Divinity  of  the  Saviqtir 
qrhilft  admittiiig  His  Mcssiahship. 

? 


i8       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS    WRITERS 

The  former  supposition  seems  the  more  probable,  as 
there  are  some  thmgs  in  the  Gospel  in  its  Greek  form 
which  we  should  not  expect  to  find  in  a  translation. 
That  Matthew  may  have  written  the  Gospel  in  both 
languages  is  in  itself  not  unlikely,  as  we  know  that 
Josephus  wrote  his  history  both  in  Hebrew  and  in  Greek 
— these  two  languages  being  both  current  in  Palestine  at 
that  time,  as  English  and  Gaelic  are  now  in  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland. 

Its  Date. — From  evidence  afforded  by  a  sttldy  of  the 
book  itself  (taken  in  connection  with  the  tradition  abore 
mentioned)  e.g.  from  the  use  of  the  expressions  "holy  city," 
••  the  holy  place,"  •'  the  city  of  the  great  King"  (iv.  5  ; 
V.  35;  xxiv.  15;  xxvii.  53),  and  from  the  nature  of  the  lan- 
guage used  by  our  Saviour  in  his  predictions  of  the  city's 
coming  doom — in  particular  from  the  caution  given  by  the 
writer  in  xxiv.  15  ("whoso  readeth,  let  him  understand  "), 
which  would  have  had  no  force  or  meaning  after  the  pre- 
dicted calamity  had  occurred,  it  has  been  reasonably 
inferred  that  the  Gospel  in  its  present  form  probably 
appeared  before  66  A.D.,  when  the  war  which  was  to 
issue  in  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  capital  was  on  the 
eve  of  breaking  out 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— The  leading  charac- 
teristic of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  as  might  be  expected  in  a 
work  intended  for  the  Hebrews,  consists  in  the  representa- 
tion of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah^  in  whom  was  fulfilled  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets.  In  this  respect  it  is  fitly  placed  immedi- 
ately after  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  uniting  link  between 
the  old  and  the  new  covenants. 

The  first  verse  strikes  the  keynote,  *'  The  book  of  th« 
generation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  David,  the  «<ki 
of  Abraham  " — son  of  David  as  the  heir  of  the  promised 
kingdom^  ton  of  Abraham  as  the  child  of  promise  in 
whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed. 
The  whole  book  may  be  regarded  as  depicting  the 
gradual  realisation  of  these  claims  in  a  spiritual  sense  ; 
the  culminating  point  being  reached  in  the  glorious 
declaration  b^  the  risen  Lord,  *<  AH  authority  hath  be^ 


ST.  MATTHEW  19 


given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore 
and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations  .  .  .  and  lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world  "  (Matt, 
xxviii.  18-20).  In  the  course  of  the  Gospel  there  are 
no  less  than  sixty  citations  of  Old  Testament  prophecy  as 
fulfilled  in  Jesus.  Equally  significant  is  the  frequency  of 
the  expression  "kingdom  of  heaven"  (literally  "king- 
dom of  the  heavens,"  reflecting  the  Hebrew  idiom), 
which  occurs  thirty-two  times,  and  the  designation  '•  son 
of  David,"  which  occurs  seven  times  as  applied  to  Jesus. 
The  whole  plan  of  the  book  is  in  harmony  wiih  its  Mes- 
sianic character.  First  we  have  the  nativity  of  Him  who 
was  •'born  King  of  the  Jews  "  and  was  at  the  same  time 
to  "save  his  people  from  their  sins"  (chaps,  i.,  ii.), — 
with  the  strange  mingling  of  light  and  shadow,  of  glory 
and  suffering,  which  was  to  be  typical  of  the  whole  life. 
Then  comes  the  Prelude  to  the  Ministry  (iii.-iv.  1 1 ),  when 
the  approach  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  announced  by 
the  predicted  Forerunner ;  and  the  Baptism  of  Jesus,  as 
the  fulfilment  of  all  righteousness  and  the  consecration  to 
His  public  ministry,  becomes  the  signal  for  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  favour  in  the  voice  from  heaven,  "This 
is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased," — followed 
by  the  Temptation,  in  which  the  decisive  choice  is  made 
between  the  "  kingdoms  of  this  world  "  and  the  unseen 
kingdom  of  the  Spirit.  The  way  is  thus  cleared  for 
successive  representations  of  the  Saviour  as  Lawgiver, 
Prophet,  and  King.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
(▼.-vii.).  He  proclaims  the  Law  as  from  a  second  Sinai 
with  new  meaning  and  power, — a  little  later  He  charges 
the  twelve  ap>ostles  whom  He  commissions  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  His  name  (x.), — at  another  time  He  delivers  the 
long  series  of  parables  in  which  the  origin,  progress,  and 
final  destiny  of  the  kingdom  are  shown  forth  (xiii.), — anon 
He  lays  down  the  principles  that  are  to  guide  the  members 
of  the  Church  in  their  relations  to  one  another,  especially 
to  their  erring  brethren  (xviii. )  Then  as  the  conflict  with 
hatred  and  unbelief  grows  ever  fiercer,  there  break  forth 
His  prophetic  denunciations  against  the  Jewish  priests 


ao       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS    WRITERS 

and  rulers,  while  He  becomes  more  and  more  outspoken 
in  the  assertion  of  His  Messianic  claims  (xxiii.-xxv.);  till 
at  last  there  comes  the  awful  tragedy  upon  the  Cross, 
giving  place  in  turn  to  the  triumph  of  the  Resurrection 
(xxvi.-xxviii.)  Interspersed  throughout  the  whole  are 
mighty  works  and  gracious  words,  spoken  and  wrought 
for  the  suffering  and  the  sinful,  which  bespeak  Him  as 
the  Sent  of  God.  ' 

There  is  a  wonderful  symmetry  in  the  whole  narrative, 
and  many  subtle  contrasts.  In  xvi.  21,  "From  that 
time  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto  his  disciples  how  that 
he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem  and  suffer  .  ,  .  and  be 
killed,"  there  is  a  striking  contrast  to  iv.  17,  "From 
that  time  began  Jesus  to  preach,  and  to  say.  Repent  ye  : 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  " — the  one  marking 
the  commencement  of  His  Passion,  as  the  other  of  His 
active  Ministry.  There  is  a  correspondence  also  between 
the  voice  from  heaven  at  His  Baptism  (iii.  17),  and  that 
heard  at  His  Transfiguration  (xvii.  5),  when  His  ministry 
reached  its  climax  and  was  sealed  by  the  divine  testimony 
in  the  presence  of  the  two  greatest  prophets  of  the  old 
covenant,  Moses  and  Elias,  as  it  had  just  before  been 
attested  by  the  great  confession  of  Peter  (xvi.  16).  That 
confession  was  a  token  that  the  ministry  of  power  and  love 
had  done  its  work  upon  the  hearts  of  the  disciples,  and 
it  is  fitly  followed  by  the  announcement  of  His  appointed 
sufferings,  the  disciples  being  now  ready  to  follow  their 
Master  through  the  valley  of  His  humiliation,  which  was 
to  conduct  them  at  last  from  the  blackness  and  darkness 
of  death  to  the  glories  of  divine  life  and  immortality. 

A  distinguishing  feature  of  this  Gospel  is  the  large 
place  assigned  in  it  to  the  words  of  Jesus,  arranged  in  a 
tystematic  form,  not  broken  up  into  fragments  as  they 
are  in  the  other  Gospels.  For  this  reason  Godet 
compares  Luke  to  "a  botanist  who  prefers  to  con- 
template a  flower  in  the  very  place  of  its  birth  and 
in  the  midst  of  its  natural  surroundings,  while  Matthew 
is  like  the  gardener  who  for  some  special  object  putt 
together  large  and  magnificent  bouquets.  ** 


6T,   MARK 


CHAPTER    IV 

••TH«   gospel   according   to  ST.    MAKK** 

T  TS  Author. — The  testimony  of  the  early  Fathers, 
■^  so  far  as  it  has  reached  us,  unanimously  ascribes 
the  second  Gospel  to  St.  Mark  ;  but  with  equal 
unanimity  they  connect  it  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Apostle  Peter.  The  earliest  witness  is  Papias,  the 
bishop  already  referred  to,  who  makes  the  following 
statement  on  the  authority  of  John,  a  contemporary  of 
the  apostles  if  not  the  apostle  of  that  name.  •*  And  this 
ako  the  elder  said  :  Mark  having  become  the  interpreter 
of  Peter,  wrote  accurately  all  that  he  remembered  of  the 
things  that  were  either  said  or  done  by  Christ ;  but, 
however,  not  in  order.  For  he  neither  heard  the  Lord 
nor  followed  Him  ;  but  subsequently,  as  I  said,  attached 
himself  to  Peter,  who  used  to  frame  his  teaching  to  meet 
the  immediate  wants  of  his  hearers,  but  not  as  making  a 
connected  narrative  of  our  Lord's  discourses.  So  Mark 
committed  no  error  in  thus  writing  down  particulars  just 
as  he  remembered  them ;  for  he  took  heed  to  one  thing, 
to  omit  none  of  the  things  that  he  had  heard,  and  to 
state  nothing  falsely  in  his  narrative  of  them." 

So  little  doubt  seems  to  have  been  entertained  regard- 
ing the  Petrine  authorship  of  this  Gospel  that  we  find 
Justin  Martyr  apparently  referring  to  it  as  the  Memoirs  of 
Peter.  According  to  Irenaeus,  it  was  written  by  Mark  at 
Rome  after  the  death  of  Peter  and  Paul ;  while  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  writing  about  the  same  time,  affirms,  on 
the  tradition  of  a  long  line  of  presbyters,  that  St.  Mark 


aa       NEW  TESTAMENT  &»  ITS    WRITERS 

wrote  at  the  request  of  Peter's  hearers  at  Rome,  without 
any  interference  on  the  part  of  Peter  himself. 

Regarding  the  history  of  the  Mark  thus  referred  to, 
and  his  relations  with  the  Apostle  Peter,  we  derive 
mformation  from  Scripture  which  is  fitted  to  corroborate 
in  a  great  measure  the  ancient  tradition.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  we  are  to  identify  him  with  the  John 
Mark  mentioned  in  Acts  xii.  12,  whose  mother  Mary 
was  an  influential  member  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem — 
her  house  being  the  place  where  prayer  was  made  for 
Peter  by  the  brethren  during  his  imprisonment,  and 
where  he  himself  repaired  immediately  after  his  libera- 
tion. It  is  an  interesting  conjecture  that  this  house  may 
have  been  the  scene  of  the  Last  Supper  and  of  the 
Pentecostal  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  has  also 
been  suggested  that  the  *•  young  man"  referred  to  in 
Mark's  Gospel,  in  connection  with  the  arrest  in  the 
garden,  may  have  been  none  other  than  the  author  of 
the  book,  who  was  thus  led  to  record  an  incident 
which  to  others  would  have  appeared  insignificant  (xiv, 
51).  Mark's  intimacy  with  Peter  at  a  later  time  is 
evident  from  I  Peter  v.  13.  From  the  designation 
which  Peter  there  applies  to  him  {•«my  son"),  we  may 
infer  that  he  was  one  of  that  apostle's  converts.  It 
would  appear  that  at  the  time  the  epistle  was  written 
he  was  residing  with  Peter  in  Babylon  (which  was  then, 
and  continued  to  be  for  long  afterwards,  a  famous  seat 
of  Jewish  learning) ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
in  that  passage  Babylon  is  only  another  name  for  Rome 
(p.  134).  Previous  to  his  association  with  Peter  in 
apostolic  work  abroad,  Mark  had  accompanied  Paul 
and  Barnabas  as  their  *' minister"  or  assistant,  but 
had  withdrawn  from  the  work  (Acts  xliL  5,  13).  After 
an  interval  of  some  years,  he  rejoined  his  cousin  Bar- 
nabas, whose  willingness  to  receive  him  again  as  a 
colleague  was  so  displeasing  to  Paul  that  he  parted 
company  with  Barnabas  on  this  account  (Acts  xv.  37- 
39).  At  a  later  period  we  find  him  again  enjoying 
Paul's  confidence,  during  the  imprisonment  of  the  lattei 


ST,  MARK 


at  Rome ;  for  the  apostle  refers  to  him  as  cue  of  his 
"fellow-workers  unto  the  kingdom  of  God,"  who  had 
been  a  "comfort"  to  him  (Col.  iv.  lo-ii  ;  Philemon 
vcr.  24).  Still  later,  we  find  Paul,  in  his  Second  Epistle 
to  Timothy  (iv.  11),  requesting  that  evangelist  to  bring 
Mark  with  him,  because  he  was  **  useful  to  him  for 
ministering."  This  is  the  last  time  we  hear  of  Mark  in 
Scripture  ;  but  according  to  tradition  he  went  again  to 
Rome,  and  after  the  martyrdom  of  Peter  and  Paul,  left 
that  city  and  went  to  Alexandria,  where  he  founded 
a  famous  catechetical  school,  and  afterwards  died  a 
martyr's  death. 

Turning  now  to  internal  evidence,  we  find  strong  con- 
firmation of  the  traditional  account.  The  book  may  be 
described  as  very  much  an  expansion  or  development 
of  the  brief  statement  made  by  Peter  in  his  address  to 
Cornelius  the  centurion  (Acts  x.  36-42).  It  also  follows 
closely  the  line  of  apostolic  testimony  which  Peter  had 
himself  marked  out  immediately  after  the  Ascension 
(Acts  i.  22).  The  whole  tone  of  the  book  reflects 
Peter's  energetic,  impulsive,  imconventional  character. 
Its  rapid  transition  from  one  incident  to  another— of 
which  we  have  a  striking  illustration  in  the  fact  that  the 
Greek  word  variously  translated  **  straightway,"  •*  imme- 
diately," "forthwith,"  etc,  occurs  in  it  no  lest  than 
forty-one  times  ;  its  practical  matter-of-fact  tone^  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  while  it  records  eighteen  miracles 
it  contains  only  four  parables,  and  twice  represents  the 
Lord  and  His  disciples  as  having  their  hands  so  full  of 
work  that  '*  they  could  not  so  much  as  eat  bread  "  (iii. 
20 ;  vi.  31);  its  vivid  description  of  the  excitement 
occasioned  by  Christ's  ministry,  and  of  the  profound 
impression  made  on  those  who  heard  and  saw  Him, 
which  would  be  a  subject  congenial  to  Peter's  enthusiastic 
nature  (i.  27  ;  ii.  2,  12;  vi.  33,  etc.);  its  omission  of 
some  things  redounding  to  Peter's  credit,  e.g.  his  designa- 
tion as  the  rock  on  which  the  Church  was  to  be  built 
(viii.  29,  30  ;  cf.  Matt.  xvi.  16-19),  and  the  insertion 
of  other    things    fitted    to    humble   him,  such    as    the 


M       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

rebuke  he  received  when  he  would  have  dissuaded  Jesoi 
from  submitting  to  His  appointed  sufferings  (\aii.  33), 
and  the  warning  he  received  by  the  first  crowing  of  the 
cock  (xiv.  30,  68-72),  as  well  as  the  introduction  of 
details  which  would  be  likely  to  dwell  in  Peter's  memory 
(i.  36;  xi.  21;  xvi.  7) — all  these  things  lend  a  high 
degree  of  probability  to  the  traditional  account  of  Peter's 
connection  with  this  Gospel.  As  regards  that  part 
of  the  tradition  which  represents  the  Gospel  as  having 
been  written  at  Rome  for  the  Christians  there,  we 
find  confirmation  of  it  in  the  connection  of  Mark  with 
Rome  already  referred  to,  and  in  his  Roman  name 
'•  MarcuSf^  which  gradually  superseded  the  Hebrew 
"John"  ;  in  the  absence  of  the  Hebrew  genealogy  of 
our  Lord  ;  in  the  explanation  of  Jewish  wordsy  eg, 
Boanerges  (iii.  17),  Talitha  cumi(v.  41),  Corban(vii.  Il), 
Ephphatha  (vii.  34),  Abba  (xiv.  36),  and  of  Jewish  cms- 
toms,  e.g.  the  washing  of  hands  (vii.  3,  4)  and  Passover 
observances  (xiv.  1 2 ;  xv.  42) ;  in  the  frequent  use  of  Latim 
words  and  idioms,  e.g.  ** legion,"  "centurion,"  **quad- 
rantes  " — the  Roman  equivalent  to  two  Jewish  mites — 
(xii.  42) ;  and  very  specially  in  the  mention  of  Alexander 
and  Rufus  (xv.  21),  if  the  latter  be,  as  seems  very  prob- 
able, the  same  person  as  is  referred  to  by  St.  Paul  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  xvi.  13. 

Its  Date. — With  regard  to  the  date  of  the  Gospel  w« 
may  conclude  that  it  was  written  between  64  a.d.  and 
68  A,D. — the  latter  being  the  year  of  Nero's  death,  in 
whose  reign  Peter  and  Paul  are  believed  to  have  suffered 
martyrdom. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — If  the  first  Gospel 
may  be  described  as  Messianic,  the  second  may  be  fitly 
styled  realistic^  bearing  traces  throughout  of  the  graphic 
report  of  an  eyewitness. 

It  is  minute  and  circumstantial ,  giving  many  details 
of  person,  number,  place,  and  time  that  are  not  to 
be  found  in  the  other  Gospels  (xiii.  3 ;  vi  7 ;  xii.  41  j 
^  3S)«  It  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  emotions, 
kxiiks,  gestures,   and   actions   of  our  Lord  and  others 


ST.   MARK  25 


(iiL  5,  34 ;  vii.  33  ;  viii.  33  ;  ix.  36  ;  jl  32,  etc.)  It 
brings  out  the  picturesque  character  of  many  of  the 
scenes  enacted  in  our  Lord's  ministry,  e.g.  in  the 
narrative  of  the  Feeding  of  the  five  thousand  (vi.  35-44) 
this  Gospel  "alone  tells  us  of  the  fresh  green  grass 
on  which  they  sat  down  by  hundreds  and  by  fifties  j 
and  the  word  used  for  '  companies '  means  literally 
'  flower-beds,*  as  though  to  St.  Peter  those  multitudes, 
in  their  festal  passover  attire  with  its  many-coloured 
Oriental  brightness  of  red  and  blue,  looked  like  the 
patches  of  crocus  and  poppy  and  tulip  and  amaiyllis 
which  he  had  seen  upon  the  mountain  slopes."  In 
keeping  with  this  is  the  photographic  character  of  iti 
account  of  the  Transfiguration*  (ix.)  and  of  the  Storm 
on  the  Sea  of  Gennesaret  (iv.  35-41).  It  also  frequently 
reproduces  the  very  words  of  Jesus  (iv.  39;  vi.  31; 
of.  Matt.  viii.  26)  and  of  others  (vi.  22-25),  using  the 
term  "Rabbi,"  or  teacher  ("Master"),  as  the  earlier 
mode  of  addressing  Jesus,  where  the  other  evangelist* 
prefer  "  Lord  "  (iv.  38  ;  ix.  5  ;  x.  51 ;  cf.  Matt.  viii.  25 ; 
xviL  4 ;  XX.  30-33),  and  narrates  events  in  the  present 
tense  as  if  they  were  just  taking  place  (i.  40  ;  xiv.  43). 

Altogether,  it  is  a  simple,  direct,  forcible  narrative, 
and  gives  the  general  outline  of  our  Lord's  ministry  in 
a  clearer  form  than  either  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  or 
Luke.  It  sets  Him  before  us  as  He  worked  and  taught 
in  the  living  present,  making  no  mention  of  the  law, 
and  scarcely  ever  quoting  prophecy,  but  aiming  simply 
to  depict  Him  in  that  aspect  of  energetic  and  victorious 
strength  which  was  fitted  to  impress  the  Roman  mind, 
and  which  is  foreshadowed  by  the  opening  words, 
"  The  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son 
of  God." 

The  following  are  the  passages  peculiar  to  Mark's 
Gospel  : — 

The  alarm  of  Jesus'  family  (iii  ai). 

1  RafTaelle  is  mainly  indebted  to  this  Gospel  for  the  detafls  of  kb 
great  picture. 


aG       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

The  seed  growing  secretly  (iv.  36-29). 
The  healing  of  one  deaf  and  dumb  (vii.  32-37). 
The  gradual  healing  of  the  blind  man  (viil  22-26). 
The  exhortation  to  watch  (xiii.  33-37). 
The  flight  of  the  young  man  (xiv.  51-52). 
Certain    details    about    the    Lord's    Resurrectioii 
(xtL  6-1 1). 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  recall  the  hxA 
that  while  Mark's  Gospel  has  a  larger  proportion  of 
common  matter  than  any  of  the  others — amounting  to 
no  less  than  93  per  cent  of  its  whole  contents — this 
is  probably  due,  not  to  its  having  borrowed  from  the 
others,  but  to  its  more  strict  adherence  to  the  original 
cycle  of  oral  teaching  (pp.  8-10). 

Note. — Verses  9-20  in  the  last  chapter  are  absent 
from  some  ancient  MSS.  (see  marginal  note,  R.V.) 
The  verses  referred  to  differ  greatly  in  style  and  langusige 
from  the  rest  of  the  book,  and  on  this  account  it  has 
been  supposed  that  they  were  added  by  a  later  hand, 
probably  within  a  few  years  after  the  pablicatioB  of  the 
GoqieL 


ST.  LUKE 


CHAPTER    V 

••the   gospel   according  to  ST.    LUK«" 

TTS  Author.— The  authorship  of  the  third  Gospel 
*-  has  scarcely  ever  been  disputed.  It  has  uniformly 
been  ascribed  to  Luke,  the  friend  and  companion  of  the 
Apostle  Paul. 

A  comparison  of  its  opening  verses  with  the  preface 
to  the  Book  of  Acts,  and  an  examination  of  the  style 
and  structure  of  the  two  books,  leave  no  room  for  doubt 
that  they  were  written  by  one  and  the  same  person. 
The  indications  of  his  personality  afforded  by  certain 
passages  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  where  he  joins  himseli 
with  Paul  by  the  use  of  the  first  person  plural  as  if 
he  were  in  his  company  at  the  time — viewed  in  the 
light  of  the  information  afforded  by  the  Book  of  Acts 
and  the  epistles  of  Paul,  regarding  the  apostle's  personal 
associates  and  his  relations  with  them, — ^justify  us  in 
holding  that  the  early  Church  was  right  in  ascribing 
the  authorship  to  Luke.^ 

With  regard  to  Luke's  personal  history,  nearly  all  that 

I  An  examination  of  the  relative  pousages,  which  are  too  numerous 
to  mention,  shows  that  there  are  only  three  of  the  apostle's  friends 
who  could  have  been  with  him  on  the  occasions  referred  to,  via. 
Luke,  J«sui  Justus,  and  Demas.  But  Demas  is  disqualified  by 
3  Tim.  IV.  lo,  while  Jesus  Justus  is  referred  to  as  "of  the  cir- 
cumcmon  "  ^ol.  iv.  u),  whereas  the  tone,  both  of  the  third  Gospel 
and  of  the  Book  of  Acts,  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  author 
was  a  Ganale.  The  details  *x%  given  in  Birks'i  Harm  A*MtoUca 
p.  351. 


38       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

we  know  of  him  is  connected  with  the  apostolic  labours 
of  Paul.  He  is  referred  to  by  that  apostle  as  "the 
beloved  physician"  (Col.  iv.  14),  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  it  may  have  been  owing  to  Paul's  need 
of  medical  attendance  that  they  were  first  brought  into 
intimate  relations  with  one  another  (Acts  xvi.  6-10; 
Gal.  iv.  13-15).  Traces  of  Luke's  profession  have  been 
discovered  in  the  frequency  with  which  he  refers  to  Christ's 
work  and  that  of  his  apostles  as  a  ministry  of  healing  (iv. 
18,  23  ;  ix.  I,  2,  6  ;  x.  9;  cf.  also  xxii.  51,  which  tells  of 
the  healing  of  Malchus'  ear,  a  fact  unrecorded  by  any 
of  the  other  three  evangelists  in  their  account  of  the 
incident),  as  well  as  in  the  occasional  use  of  technical 
and  other  forms  of  expression  which  a  physician  was  likely 
to  employ  (iv.  38  ;  v.  12  ;  vi.  19  ;  xxii.  44). 

It  has  been  supposed,  not  without  reason,  that  it  is 
Luke  who  is  referred  to  (2  Cor.  viii.  18)  as  "the  brother 
whose  praise  in  the  gospel  is  spread  through  all  the 
churches";  but  whether  this  be  so  or  not,  we  have 
incontestable  evidence  that  Luke  was  not  only  a  warm 
friend  of  the  apostle  but  a  valuable  coadjutor.  In  the 
Epistle  to  Philemon  (ver.  24),  which  was  written  during 
Paul's  first  imprisonment  in  Rome,  Luke  is  one  of 
Paul's  "fellow-workers"  who  send  greetings,  and  in  3 
Timothy  (iv.  il),  which  was  written  during  Paul's 
second  imprisonment  when  many  of  his  friends  had 
forsaken  him,  we  find  the  brief  but  weighty  statement, 
"  Only  Luke  is  with  me." 

Of  Luke's  nationality  and  of  his  history  previous  to 
his  association  with  the  apostle  we  have  but  scanty 
information.  From  the  distinction  drawn  between  him 
and  those  "of  the  circumcision  "  (Col.  iv.  11-14)  it  may 
be  inferred  that  he  was  of  Gentile  extraction ;  and  this 
inference  is  confirmed  by  his  Greek  name  and  the 
character  of  his  style,  which — except  when  he  is  drawing 
from  older  documents  or  reporting  speeches  conveyed  to 
him  by  others — is  more  classical  than  that  of  the  other 
Gospels,  alike  as  regards  the  structure  of  the  sentences 
and  the  choice  of  words,  as  well  as  in  his  use  of  an 


ST.  LUKB 


opening  dedication,  a  feature  quite  foreign  to  the 
Hebrew  style.  According  to  Eusebius  and  Jerome, 
who  wrote  in  the  fourth  century,  Luke  was  a  native 
of  Antioch  in  Syria.  Of  this  we  seem  to  have  confirma- 
tion in  the  full  account  he  gives  of  the  Church  at 
Antioch,  and  also  in  his  mention  of  Nicolas  as  •*« 
proselyte  of  Antioch  "  (Acts  vL  5).^ 

While  tradition  has  always  ascribed  the  third  Gospel 
to  Luke,  it  has  assigned  to  Paul  a  somewhat  similar 
part  in  its  production  to  that  which  Peter  bore  in  ^• 
lation  to  the  Gospel  of  Mark.  Such  a  connection 
is  rendered  probable  both  by  what  we  know  of  the 
relations  between  Paul  and  Luke,  and  by  the  character 
of  the  Gospel  itself,  which  is  so  liberal  and  philanthropic 
in  its  tone  as  to  form  an  excellent  historic  groundwork 
for  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith, 
which  was  characteristic  of  Paul's  preaching.  There  u 
also  a  striking  similarity  between  the  words  attributed  to 
our  Lord  in  the  institution  of  the  Supper  (xxii.  19,  20) 
and  those  in  i  Cor.  xi.  24,  25  (Luke  having  doubtless 
often  heard  Paul  use  the  words  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Sacrament),  and  in  the  accounts  which  the  two  books 
give  of  our  Lord's  appearances  after  His  Resurrection 
(Luke  xxiv. ;  i  Cor.  xv.  1-7).  The  duty  of  prayer  and 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  figure  so  largely 
in  this  Gospel,  are  also  characteristic  of  Paul's  writings  ; 
and  there  are  certain  habitual  forms  of  expression 
which  are  common  to  them  both,  e.g.  a  threefold  classt- 
ficedion  of  ideas  (xv.  3,  8,  ii  ;  ix.  57-62;  xL  11-12; 
cf.  I  Cor.  xiii.   13  ;  Eph.  iv.  4-6). 

From  his  preface  we  learn  that  it  was  Lake's  object 
to  draw  up  in  as  complete  and  consecutive  a  form  as 
possible  an  account  of  the  main  facts  regarding  Christ's 
person  and  work,  by  reference  to  the  most  authentic  and 
reliable  sources  of  information.      His  missionary  travels 

1  A  panJIel  has  been  drawn  between  this  circumstance  and  the 
Mitnti — I  made  by  two  Scottish  authors  alone  (Scott  and  Alison),  out 
cf  eight  writers  who  give  an  account  of  Napoleon's  Russian  campaign, 
•f  tm  fiaot  that  General  Barclay  de  Tolly  was  of  Scottish  < 


30       NEW  TESTAMENT  6-  ITS    WRITERS 

with  Paul  would  afford  excellent  opportunities  for 
collecting  such  information.  In  particular  the  two 
years  which  he  seems  to  have  spent  in  Caesarea  during 
Paul's  detention  by  Felix,  where  he  was  within  two 
days'  journey  of  the  shores  of  Lake  Gennesaret,  the 
scene  of  many  incidents  in  our  Lord's  ministry,  would 
enable  him  to  obtain  at  first  hand,  from  brethren  who 
had  been  eyewitnesses,  many  of  those  narratives  which 
are  only  to  be  found  in  this  Gospel.  His  high  Christian 
character  gave  him  a  moral  fitness  for  the  work,  while  his 
culture  and  the  love  of  accuracy  manifest  in  his  historical 
and  topographical  allusions,  marked  him  out  as  a  suitable 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence  for  writing  the 
Gospel  story  in  a  form  as  well  adapted  for  the  philo- 
sophical Greeks  as  Matthew's  Gospel  was  to  be  for  the 
theocratic  Jews  and  Mark's  for  the  practical  Romans. 

Its  Date. — The  date  of  its  composition  is  uncertain. 
It  may  have  been  as  early  as  60  A.D.,  at  the  close  of  the 
two  years  which  Luke  spent  with  Paul  at  Caesarea  ;  or  it 
may  possibly  have  been  during  Paul's  imprisonment  at 
Rome,  61-63  A.D.,  or  even  some  years  later;  but  in 
any  case  anterior  to  the  Book  of  Acts,  as  the  preface  to 
the  latter  implies. 

Its  Cliaracter  and  Contents.— If  St  Matthew's 

Gospel  may  be  styled  the  Messianic  Gospel  and  St 
Mark's  the  realistic  Gospel,  St  Luke's  may  be  fitly 
described  as  the  catholic  Gospel  —  foreshadowing  the 
expansion  of  God's  kingdom  in  the  future  as  the  first 
Gospel  reflects  its  history  in  the  past^  and  the  second 
describes  its  energy  in  the  present.  It  is  not  only  more 
comprehensive  in  its  range,  beginning  with  the  birth  of 
the  forerunner  and  ending  with  an  account  of  the  Ascen- 
sion, but  it  also  brings  out  more  fully  the  breadth  of 
Christ's  sympathy  and  the  fulness  and  freeness  of  His 
love.  In  illustration  of  this  we  may  note  the  following 
points  :  (I )  The  Gospel  of  Luke  traces  Christ's  genealogy, 
not  like  Matthew's  by  the  legal  line  to  Abraham  the 
head  of  the  Jews,  but  by  the  natural  Un4  to  Adam^  the 
of  humanity  (iii.  38),  forming  thus  a  fit  introdnctioo 


ST.  LUKE 


to  the  life  of  Him  who  was  to  be  the  Kinsman- 
Redeemer  of  the  whole  human  family.  (2)  It  exhibits 
more  clearly  the  reality  of  Christ's  humanity  in  all  the 
stages  of  human  lite  (it  4-7,  21,  22,  40,  42,  51,  52; 
iii.  23),  bringing  into  prominence  more  especially  His 
dependence  upon  God  in  the  great  crises  of  His  life, 
when  He  had  recourse  to  Him  m prayer  (iiL  21  |  ▼!.  IS, 
13  ;  ix.  28,  29  ;  xxiii.  34,  46),  and  inculcating  earnest- 
ness in  prayer  by  two  parables  peculiar  to  itself  (xL  5- 
13  ;  xviii.  1-8).  (3)  In  keeping  with  this  view  of  it  as 
the  gospel  of  humanity,  we  find  that  it  represents  Christ's 
teaching  not  so  much  in  its  theocratic  as  in  its  human 
aspects — its  usual  formula  in  the  introduction  of  a  parable 
being  not  *'  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like,"  as  in 
Matthew's,  but  "a  certain  man  made  a  great  supper" 
(xiv.  16),  "a  certain  man  had  two  sons"  (xv.  II),  etc 

(4)  It  represents  Christ  zs  far-reaching  in  his  sympaihi^s^ 
full  of  compassion  for  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  suffering, 
and  ready  to  forgive  the  chief  of  sinners.  It  is  in  this 
Gospel  we  find  the  parables  of  The  Rich  Man  and 
Lazarus  (xvi.  19),  The  Pharisee  and  Publican  (xviii  9), 
and  The  Prodigal  Son  (xv.  ii),  as  also  the  story  of  the 
Good  Samaritan  (x.  30).  It  is  here  we  find  a  record  of 
Christ's  visit  to  the  house  of  Zacchaeus  the  publican  (xix. 
I),  of  His  gracious  reception  of  the  woman  that  was  m 
sinner  (vii.  37),  and  of  His  promise  of  Paradise  to  the 
penitent  malefactor  (xxiii.  43).  It  is  here  we  find  the 
touching  story  of  the  raising  to  life  of  the  young  man  at 
the  gate  of  Nain  (vii.  11),  who  was  "  the  only  son  of  his 
mother,  and  she  was  a  widow  "  ;  it  is  here  we  are  told 
that  Jairus'  daughter,  whom  Christ  restored  to  life,  was 
an  "only  daughter"  (viii.  42)  ;  it  is  here  we  Icam  that 
the  demonaic  boy  whom  He  healed  at  the  foot  of  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration  was  an  ♦*  only  child  "  (ix.  38). 

(5)  It  is  the  Gospel  of  toleration  and  brotherly  hve^ 
embracing  within  the  range  of  its  sympathy  the 
Samaritan  (ix.  5 1 -56;  xvii.  1 1 -1 9),  the  GentiU  (ir. 
25-27;  xiiL  28,  29),  \}Ci^  poor  (ii  7,  8,  24 ;  vL  20 ; 
ty.   58 ;  m.   21),  the  very  youngs  this  being  the  only 


It      NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS  WRITEH^ 

Gospel  that  tells  as  that  the  children  brought  to  Jesus 
were  •*  babes "  (xviiL  15,  R.V.),  and  the  weaker  and, 
up  to  that  time,  /ess-honoured  sex  (i,  concerning  Mary 
and  Elisabeth ;  u.  36-38 ;  viiL  I>3 ;  z.  38-43 ;  zziii. 
■7,  28V 

It  is  no  accident,  therefore,  that  the  words  **  Saviour,** 
"salvation,"  "grace,"  occur  more  frequently  in  this  than 
In  any  other  Gospel ;  it  is  no  accident  that  it  represents 
the  Saviour's  birth  as  heralded  by  angels  to  shepherds 
watching  their  flocks  by  night  (ii.  8-14),  and  His 
ministry  as  opening  in  a  despised  village  of  Galilee  with 
the  gracious  words  of  the  evangelic  prophet,  **  The 
spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  anointed  me  to 
preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor"  (iv.  18)  ;  it  is  no  acci- 
dent that  as  its  first  chapters  resound  with  the  voice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving  for  the  birth  of  the  Saviour,  its 
dosing  verses  tell  of  the  disciples'  joy  as  they  returned  to 
'erusalem  with  the  blessing  of  the  Ascended  Saviour 
esting  on  their  heads,  to  be  "  continually  in  the  temple, 
ilessing  God."  It  is  because  this  Gospel  from  first  to 
Ast  tells  the  "good  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be 
o  all  the  people  "  (ii.  10),  and  proclaims  a  Saviour  who 
•  to  be  "a  light  for  revelation  to  the  Gentiles  and  the 
rlory  of  (Thy  people)  Israel"  (ii.  32), — in  whose  name 
•repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  unto 
ull  the  nations,  beginning  from  Jerusalem"  (xxiv.  47). 
L«ke  is  indeed  the  most  evangelical  of  all  the  evangel- 
its,  and  as  such  he  has  fitly  preserved  for  us  the  first 
precious  germs  of  Christian  hymnology,  which,  after 
ighteen  centuries,  are  still  prized  as  an  aid  to  worship 
yy  almost  all  sections  of  the  Christian  Church,  viz.  the 
Magnificat  (L  46-55),  the  Benedictus  (i.  68-79),  the 
Gloria  in  Excelsis  (ii.  14),  and  the  Nunc  Dimittis  (iL 
r-9-32). 

It  adds  to  the  importance  of  this  Gospel,  styled  by 
Renan  '*the  most  beautiful  book  in  the  world,"  that 
about  one-third  of  its  contents  is  peculiar  to  itself,  con- 
sisting mainly  of  chapters  ix.  51-xviii.  14,  relating  to 
^  Sanour*!  last  joiumey  to  Jerusalem. 


ST.  JOHN 


CHAPTER  VI 

••Tint  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  ST.    JOHH* 

ITS    Author.— It  is  a  weighty  and  significant  fact 
that  until  the  close  of  the  last  century  the  Johan- 
nine  authorship  of  the  fourth  Gospel  was  never  senously 
challenged.     Epiphanius,  indeed  (380  A.D.),  tells  us  ol 
a  very  small  party  who  had  ascribed  it  to  Cennthus,  a 
heretical  contemporary  of  the  Apostle  John  at  Ephesus  ; 
but  they  seem  to  have  had  no  other  reason  for  rejectmg  it 
than  their  aversion  to  its  teaching.     During  the  present 
century  no  question  has  been  the  subject  of  more  con- 
troversy ;  and  scarcely  any  can  be  of  more  importance, 
considering  its  close  bearing  on  the  doctnnal  aspects  of 
Christianity,  and  especially  on  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 
To  a  large  extent  the  question  is  covered  by  the  line 
of  evidence  already  indicated  in  connection  with    the 
Gospels  as  a  whole  (see  pp.  5-7)-   But  in  some  respects  the 
external  evidence  for  this  Gospel  is  stronger  than  for  any 
of  the  others.    It  is  specially  quoted  by  such  early  Gnostic 
writers  as  Basilides  (125  a.d.),  Valentinus  (145  A- p., 
whose  favourite  phrases  were  borrowed  from  its  opening 
verses),  and  Heracleon  (a  disciple  of  Valentinus),  who 
wrote  a  commentary  on  it— being  the  first  known  com- 
mentary on  any  part  of  the  New  Testament.     More- 
over, as -John  himself  survived  till  near  the  close  of  the 
first  century,  a  comparatively  short   interval  was   left 
between  his  death  and  the  time  when  the  four  Gospels 
lie  known  to  have  been  universally  accepted  by  the 
3 


34       NEW  TESTAMENT  df  ITS   WRITERS 

Church  (185  A.D.)  ;  and  for  this  interval  it  so  happens 
that  we  have  a  direct  chain  of  testimony  consisting 
of  a  very  few  strong  and  well-connected  links. 
At  the  lower  end  of  the  chain  we  have  Irenaeus,  one  of 
the  most  important  witnesses  to  the  general  reception 
of  the  four  Gospels  towards  the  close  of  the  second 
century.  Bom  in  Asia  Minor,  where  John  spent  the 
last  twenty  or  thirty  years  of  his  life,  he  became  Bishop 
of  Lyons  in  Gaul,  which  had  a  close  ecclesiastical  con- 
nection with  his  native  land.  Early  in  life  he  was 
brought  into  familiar  contact  with  Polycarp  (bom  70  A.  D), 
a  disciple  of  the  Apostle  John,  who  was  for  more  than 
forty  years  Bishop  of  Smyma  and  was  martyred  155 
A.D.  Among  other  allusions  which  he  makes  to  Poly- 
carp, he  says,  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Florinus  (177  A.D.), 
'♦  I  can  describe  the  very  place  in  which  the  blessed  Poly- 
carp used  to  sit  when  he  discoursed,  and  his  goings  out 
and  his  comings  in,  and  his  manner  of  life  and  his  personal 
appearance,  and  the  discourses  which  he  held  before  the 
people,  and  how  he  would  describe  his  intercourse  with 
John  and  with  the  rest  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  and  how 
he  would  relate  their  words.  And  whatsoever  things  he 
had  heard  from  them  about  the  Lord  and  about  His 
miracles,  Polycarp,  as  having  received  them  from  eye- 
witnesses of  the  life  of  the  Word,  would  relate  altogether 
in  accordance  with  the  Scriptures." 

It  is  beyond  dispute  that  this  Irenaeus  accepted  the 
fourth  Gospel  as  a  genuine  work  of  the  Apostle  John. 
Is  it  credible  that  he  would  have  done  so,  if  it  had  not 
been  acknowledged  by  his  teacher  Polycarp,  who  had 
been .  a  disciple  of  John  ?  And  if  it  was  accepted  by 
Polycarp  as  a  genuine  writing,  notwithstanding  its 
marked  dissimilarity  to  the  other  Gospels,  what  better 
evidence  could  we  have  that  John  was  really  its  author, 
and  that  it  was  accepted  as  his,  from  the  very  first, 
by  the  leaders  of  the  Church  in  Asia  Minor  ? 

It  may  be  well  to  state  here  very  briefly  the  'principal 
«■'<•  in  John's  life,  and  the  drcumstam^s  and«r  wbi«b 
49  m  ifod  to  HaTB  wntten  his  Gosp«]L 


ST.  JOHN 


The  younger  son  of  Zebedee,  a  Galilanm  fithennaa 
who  was  in  a  position  to  have  "hired  servants,"  he  WM 
a  follower  of  the  Baptist  before  joining  Christ's  fellow- 
ship. To  his  mother  Salome,  supposed  by  some  to  be 
the  sister  of  the  Virgin  Mary  (Mark  xv.  40 ;  John  xix. 
25),  who  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  followers  of 
Jesus,  he  and  his  brother  James  seem  to  have  been  in- 
debted for  much  of  their  enthusiasm.  They  were  sur- 
named  by  Jesus  **  Boanerges"  (sons  of  thunder),  in  allusion 
to  the  latent  fervour  and  vehemence  of  their  nature,  of 
which  we  are  not  without  tokens  (Matt  xx.  20-24  ;  Luke 
ix.  49-54).  During  Christ's  trial  and  crucifixion  John 
was  a  close  and  deeply-interested  observer,  receiving  a 
charge  from  his  dying  Master  to  act  the  part  of  a  son  to 
the  bereaved  Mary  (John  xviii.  15, 16 ;  xix.  25, 26).  After 
the  resurrection  we  find  him  associated  with  Peter  on  several 
important  occasions  (Acts  iii.,  iv.),  but  not  a  single  dis- 
course  of  his  is  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Acts.  He  still 
continued,  however,  to  be  revered  as  a  leader  of  the 
Church,  for  we  find  him  referred  to  by  St  Paul  (GaL  it 
9),  in  connection  with  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  (50  A.D.), 
as  one  of  those  who  were  "  reputed  to  be  pillars."  In  his 
later  life,  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  (70  A.D.),  according 
to  a  general  and  well-supported  tradition,  John  resided  in 
Ephesus,  as  bishop  of  the  Churches  in  Asia  Minor  which 
had  been  founded  by  Paul,  and  was  banished  under 
Domitian  to  the  bland  of  Patmoe  (where  he  wrote  the 
Book  of  Revelation,  Rev.  i.  9),  returning  to  Ephesus  in 
the  reign  of  Nerva,  and  living  there  till  after  the  acces- 
sion of  Trajan  (98  A.D.) 

It  was  in  Ephesus,  which  had  now  become  the  chief 
centre  of  Christianity,  and  was  beginning  to  be  infected 
by  the  errors  of  which  Paul  had  warned  its  elders  at 
Miletus  (Acts  xx.  29,  30),  that  the  earliest  traditions  re- 
present John  to  have  written  his  GospeL  He  is  said  to 
have  done  so  on  the  entreaty,  and  with  the  subsequent 
approval,  of  the  Apostle  Andrew  and  other  leading 
members  of  the  Church,  in  order  to  supplement  the 
>»arhing  of  the  three  Gospels  already  published,  and 


.o       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

to  counteract  the  errors  which  were  beguiling  some  from 
the  simplicity  of  the  faith. 

Turning  now  to  the  evidence  of  its  authorship  afforded 
by  the  Gospel  itself,  we  may  first  of  all  note  the  fact 
that  the  whole  tone  of  the  book  would  give  one  the 
impression  that  it  was  written  by  some  one  who  was 
familiar  with  the  inner  life  of  Christ  and  His  apostles 
(i-  35-51;  »•  ".  I7»  22;  iv.  6,  8,27;  vL  5,  8,  68-71; 
iz.  3;  xi.  16;  xii.  21-22;  xiii. ;  xviii.  16;  xx.)  All 
these  passages  point  to  one  of  the  twelve  disciples  as 
the  author — in  accordance  with  the  statement  (i.  14), 
**  We  beheld  his  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
from  the  Father,"  and  the  explicit  declaration  in  the 
24th  verse  of  the  last  chapter  (the  whole  of  which  seems 
to  form  a  postscript  added  by  the  apostle  and  endorsed 
by  his  companions),  — "  This  is  the  disciple  which 
beareth  witness  of  these  things,  and  wrote  these  things  ; 
and  we  know  that  his  witness  is  true."  As  to  which 
of  the  disciples  is  here  referred  to,  we  find  a  clue  in 
verse  20  of  the  same  chapter,  where  he  is  identified 
with  **the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,"  who  had  been 
previously  referred  to  in  xx.  2,  and  xxi.  7,  in  associa- 
tion with  Peter,  and  in  xiii.  23,  where  he  is  described 
as  "reclining  in  Jesus'  bosom"  at  the  Last  Supper 
The  presumption  that  the  disciple  thus  designated  was 
one  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  who  were  admitted  along 
with  Peter  (as  the  other  evangelists  tell  us)  to  a  closer 
fellowship  with  their  Master  than  the  rest  of  the  dis- 
ciples, is  strengthened  by  the  remarkable  circumstance 
that  the  two  brothers  are  never  mentioned  in  this  Gospel, 
except  in  the  second  verse  of  the  last  chapter  where  they 
are  referred  to  as  ♦'  the  sons  of  Zebedee."  The  position 
there  assigned  to  them  in  the  list  of  disciples  is  much 
lower  than  is  usual  in  the  other  Gospels,  and  would  lead 
OS  to  suppose  that  it  was  modesty  that  led  the  author  to 
veil  his  own  name  (i.  35-42;  xviii.  15,  16;  xix.  26,  27), 
as  well  as  that  of  his  brother  James  and  his  mother 
Salome  (whom  he  nowhere  mentions  unless  at  xix-  25),  as 
he  is  in  general  very  precise  and  explicit  in  his  mode  d 


ST.  JOHN  37 


designation.  A«  between  the  two  brothers,  there  caa 
be  no  hesitation  in  assigning  the  authorship  to  John, 
since  James  early  fell  a  victim  to  the  I4erodian  persecu- 
tion 44  A.D.  (Acts  xii.  2). 

If  the  Gospel  was  not  written  by  John,  it  must  have 
been  written  by  some  one  who  wished  to  pass  for  that 
apostle;  and  those  who  reject  the  Johannine  authorship 
have  the  insuperable  difficulty  to  encounter  of  finding 
a  writer  of  the  post-apostolic  age  possessed  of  the  intel- 
lectual gifts  and  the  spiritual  elevation  needed  for  the 
production  of  so  sublime  a  work,  and  at  the  same  time 
capable  of  claiming  for  his  unscrupulous  fabrications,  in 
the  most  solemn  terms,  the  authority  of  an  eyewitness 
and  apostle  who  had  reclined  in  Jesus'  bosom. 

Besides  the  allusions  to  the  inner  life  of  Christ  and 
His  apostles  which  have  already  been  referred  to, 
there  may  be  discerned  in  this  Gospel,  on  a  close 
examination,  many  other  tokens  of  its  apostolic  origin. 

(1)  In  its  account  of  Christ's  ministry  it  gives  a  faith- 
ful picture  of  the  Messianic  hopes  of  temporal  sovereignty 
which  existed  among  the  Jews  prior  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  of  the  conflict  which  Christ 
waged  with  such  expectations  (i.  19-28;  iv.  25;  vL 
14,  15;  vii, ;  xi.  47-53;  xix.  12);  while  we  also  find 
traces  of  acquaintance  with  the  Temple  arrangements  of 
the  same  period  (ii.  13-16;  iv.  20,  21 ;  x.  23). 

(2)  It  shows  a  minute  acquaintance  vix'Cti  Jewish  customs 
(ii.  6;  iii.  25;  vii.  22;  xi.  55;  xix.  7,  31),  manners 
(iv.  9,  27;  vii.  2,  37;  x.  22;  xi.  44;  xviii.  28;  xix. 
40),  and  opinions  (i.  46;  vii.  35,  41,  52;  ix.  2,  16; 
X.  19-21),  frequently  giving  explanations  as  if  it  were 
written  by  a  Jew  for  foreign  readers. 

(3)  It  also  shows  a  minute  acquaintance  with  the  topo- 
graphy of  Jerusalem  (v.  2;  viii.  20;  ix.  7;  xi.  18; 
xviii.  1,  15;  xix.  13,  17,  41),  and  with  iki^  geography  of 
Palestine  generally  (L  28;  iii.  23;  iv.  5,  35 ;  xL  54). 

(4)  It  is  circumstantial  in  many  of  its  statement s^  and 
bears  the  stamp  of  personal  knowledge  such  as  would 
be  possessed  by  an  eyewitness  (i.  29,  35-43  ;  ii.  i,  20  ; 


58      NEW  TESTAMENT  6f  ITS  WEI  TEES 

!▼.  6,  40,  53 ;  vL  16-24,  z*  40>  xi.  6,  39,  etc.  |  ziL  I, 
zviii.  10,  etc. ;  xix.  25,  xx.  i-io,  etc) 

(5)  While  written  in  Greek,  it  is  Hebraic  in  its  style  and 
structure^  abounding  in  parallels  and  contrasts,  both  in 
expression  and  arrangement  [e.g.  chap.  i. ),  and  frequently 
quotes  from  the  Old  Testament,  sometimes  directly  from 
the  Hebrew  (xiii.  18  ;  xix.  37,  etc.) 

All  that  can  be  alleged  against  the  apostolic  anther- 
ship  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  on  account  of  its  marked 
divergence  from  the  other  Gospels  in  the  representation 
of  Christ's  character  and  teaching,  is  suflSciently  met  by 
the  fact  that  "the  synoptical  Gospels  contain  the  Gospel 
of  the  infant  Church ;  that  of  St.  John,  the  Gospel  in 
its  maturity.  The  first  combine  to  give  the  wide  experi- 
ence of  the  many  ;  the  last  embraces  the  deep  mysteries 
treasured  up  by  the  one."  If  we  suppose  the  fourth 
Gospel  to  have  been  written  about  85  A.D.,  an  interval 
of  more  than  half  a  century  would  thus  have  elapsed 
since  the  death  of  Christ.  During  that  time  Christianity 
had  spread  into  many  lands  and  furnished  subjects  for 
reflection  to  many  minds,  while  the  Jewish  expectations 
and  prejudices  which  had  clung  to  many  of  the  early 
members  of  the  Church  had  been  in  a  great  measure 
dissipated  by  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  In  these  circum- 
stances it  was  inevitable  that  the  truths  of  the  Gospel 
should  be  viewed  in  new  lights  and  assume  more 
speculative  forms  ;  and  in  Ephesus,  as  the  great  meeting- 
place  of  Oriental  mysticism  and  Greek  philosophy,  the 
deeper  questions  and  more  theological  aspects  of  the 
new  religion  would  naturally  claim  a  large  measure  of 
attention.  (Cf.  Paul's  Epistles  to  the  Colossians  and  the 
Ephesians,  pp.  91,  99.) 

We  thus  see  that,  as  the  other  Gospels  had  reference 
to  distinct  types  of  thought  for  which  they  were  severally 
adapted,  so  the  fourth  Gospel  was  designed  to  meet  the 
demand  for  a  more  inUllectual  presentation  of  divine 
truth,  which  might  sorve  as  an  antidote  to  the  Gnostic 
speculations  which  were  imperilling  the  recognition  at 
one  timt  of  Christ's  divinity,  and  at  another  time  of  His 


ST,  JOHN  39 


humanity.      In  God's  providence  a  worthy  exponent  of 
this  phase  of  the  Gospel  was  found  in  the  aged  Apostle 
John,  whose  heart  and  mind  had  been  so  receptive  of 
divine  truth  even  in  his  youth  as  to  win  for  him  the 
place  of  closest  fellowship  with  his  Master,  and  who  had 
since  then  enjoyed  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spmt  for  a 
longer  period  than  any  of  his  fellows,  and  amid  more 
intellectual  surroundings,  and  was  thus  singularly  fitted 
for  th€  great  task  which  Providence  had  assigned  to  him. 
Its  Date.— 85-90  A.D.,  as  indicated  above. 
Character  and  Contents.— Many  of  the  remarks 
that    might   have   been   made    under    this   head   have 
already  found  place  in  this  chapter,  and  at  pages   ii 
and  14,  where  a  contrast  is  drawn  between  the  Synoptics 
and  the  fourth  Gospel.     On  the  whole  perhaps  no  fitter 
epithet  can  be  found  for  this  Gospel  than  that  apphed  to 
it  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  at  the  close  of  the  second 
century,   vix.    the   spiritual  Gospel.      It   may  also  be 
described   as   the   doctrinal  or   theologUal   GospcL     It 
represents  Christ's  person  and  work  not  with  special 
reference  to  the  Past,  or  the  Present,   or  the  Future  ; 
but  generally  with  reference  to  Eternity,  in  which  I'ast, 
Present,  and  Future  are  alike  included. 

Its  great  theme  is  set  forth  in  the  Prologue  or  Intro- 
duction  (i.  I-18),  which  strikes  the  keynote  of  the  whole 
Gospel.  It  represents  Christ  as  the  Manifestation  oi 
the  divine  Being,  the  only  Source  of  Ufe  and  Ught,  m 
human  form  ("the  Word  was  God"  and  "the  Word 
became  flesh"),  and,  as  such,  the  object,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  saving  faith,  and  the  occasion,  on  the  other 
hand,  of  the  worid's  unbelief.  The  whole  book  is  an 
elaboration  of  this  subUme  thought,  with  a  singular 
union  of  depth  and  simplicity— chiefly  in  connectiori 
with  the  Lord's  visits  to  Jerusalem  at  the  national 
feasts,  when  He  had  occasion  to  press  His  claims,  as 
the  Revealer  of  the  Father,  upon  the  teachers  of  religion. 
This  Manifestation,  attested  by  several  forms  of  dmne 
witness-bearmg  (including  miracles,  which  are  always 
called  *•  signs  "  in  this  Gospel,  as  expressions  of  Chnst  s 


NEW  TESTAMENT  <5r*  ITS   WRITER'S 


glory),  may  be  said  to  reach  a  climax  in  xii.  37-40 
(**  though  he  had  done  so  many  signs  before  them, 
yet  they  believed  not  on  him"),  after  which  there  is 
described,  on  the  one  hand,  the  downward  course  of 
the  world's  unbelief  leading  to  the  crucifixion,  and  on 
the  other,  the  perfecting  of  the  disciples'  faith,  which 
attains  its  final  and  typical  expression  in  the  slowly- 
matured  but  deep  -  rooted  confession  of  the  doubting 
Thomas,  ♦'  My  Lord  and  my  God  "  (xx.  28). 

As  already  indicated,  the  fourth  Gospel  contains  very 
few  incidents  of  the  ministry  in  Galilee.  In  this  respect, 
as  well  as  in  many  of  its  unexplained  allusions  (i.  32,  40; 
iii.  5,  13,  24;  vi.  62,  70;  XX.  17),  it  takes  for  granted 
acquaintance  with  the  earlier  Gospels.  The  matter 
which  it  contains  in  common  with  each  of  the  three 
other  Gospels  is  very  limited  in  extent,  but  of  the  most 
profound  significance,  viz.  the  Miraculous  Feeding  of 
the  Multitude  and  the  Death  and  Resurrection  of  Christ. 
A  crucified  and  risen  Saviour  who  can  say  of  Himself, 
**  I  am  the  bread  of  life ;  he  that  cometh  to  me 
shall  not  hunger,  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall 
never  thirst," — this  is  the  essence  of  the  four  Gospels, 
as  it  is  the  essence  of  Christianity  symbolised  in  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  and  the  final  object  of  the  whole  New 
Testament  is  summed  up  by  the  last  of  the  apostle* 
when  he  says,  "These  are  written,  that  ye  may  belieye 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  thai, 
believing,  ye  may  have  life  iu  his  name  *'  (au  31). 


THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES 


CHAPTER    Vn 

••the  acts  of  thk  apostlbs* 

T  TS  Author.— There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Book 
*  of  Acts  is  from  the  same  pen  as  the  third  Gospel. 
This  is  evident  from  the  preface  at  the  head  of  each 
book,  and  from  the  similarity  of  ^their  general  style  and 
structure. 

An  attempt  has  been  made,  however,  to  raise  a 
distinction,  as  regards  authorship,  between  different 
portions  of  the  book.  There  are  certain  passages  whose 
genuineness  has  scarcely  ever  been  disputed  —  those, 
namely,  in  which  the  writer  uses  tht  first  person  plural^ 
as  having  been  himself  present  on  the  occasions  referred 
to.^  It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  these  passages 
are  the  genuine  work  of  a  companion  of  the  apostle.  But 
by  a  certain  school  of  critics  the  rest  of  the  book  has  a 
very  different  character  assigned  to  it.  According  to 
them,  the  "we"  passages  formed  the  original  notes 
of  an  eyewitness,  which  were  made  use  of  by  a  sub- 
sequent writer  in  the  second  century,  as  the  nucleus 
of  a  history  in  great  part  fictitious,  which  was  designed 
to  bridge  over  the  gulf  between  Paul  and  the  rest  of  the 
apostles. 

^  From  these  passages  it  appears  that  the  writer  joiDed  Paul's 
company  at  Troas  Qrvi.  lo),  that  he  accompanied  him  to  Philippi, 
where  he  was  left  behind  when  Paul  departed  to  another  city,  that 
after  an  interval  of  sbc  or  seven  years  he  rejoined  the  apostle  on  tha 
tatter's  return  to  Philippi,  and  accompanied  him  on  his  last  journey 
to  Jerusalem  (xx.  5-xxL  i8X  and  afterwards  from  Csesarea  to  Root 
(xxTU.  i-zxviiL  16). 


4a       NE  W  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS    WRITERS 

Even  if  this  theory  could  be  proved  to  be  correct,  it 
would  not  get  rid  of  the  supernatural  element  to  which 
these  critics  have  such  an  aversion,  for  in  the  passages 
thus  admitted  to  be  genuine  there  are  statements  that 
imply  miraculous  occurrences  (xvi.  i8,  26  ;  xxviii.  8,  9). 

But  in  reality  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  to  warrant 
such  a  view.  With  regard  to  external  testimony,  we  find 
in  some  of  the  earliest  Christian  writers  (Clement  of 
Rome,^  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Hennas,  Justin  Martyr,  etc) 
not  a  few  expressions  which  seem  to  reproduce  the  l«ii> 
guage  of  this  book — drawn  not  only  from  the  **  we " 
sections  but  from  other  parts  of  it  as  welL  The  impres- 
sion thus  made  upon  us  in  favour  of  the  book  as  it  now 
stands  is  confirmed  by  finding  it  in  the  Sjrriac  and  Old 
Latin  Versions,  and  also  in  the  Muratorian  Canon. 

But  it  is  the  internal  character  of  the  book  that  affords 
the  best  refutation  of  the  theory  in  question.  It  has  « 
natural  unity  of  diction  andttyU  which  forbids  us  to  assign 
it  to  more  than  one  author,  and  its  several  parts  are  so 
interlaced  by  corresponding  observations  and  cUlusions  as 
to  confirm  us  in  the  belief  that  it  forms  me  consisteiit 
whole.* 

That  it  is  a  work  of  the  first  century  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  it  dees  not  contain  tks  slightest  allusion  to  St. 
PauPs  epistles.  In  the  second  century  these  epistles 
were  so  widely  circulated  that  no  historian  giving  a 
sketch  of  Paul's  life-work  could  have  passed  them  over 
in  silence.  But  during  the  greater  part  of  the  period 
covered  by  the  Book  of  Acts  few  of  them  were  yet  in 
existence  ;  and  for  some  years  they  would  be  very  little 
known  except  in  the  Churches  to  which  they  were  ad- 
dressed. There  is  no  notice  taken  of  them  in  the  Book 
of  Acts,   nor   is   there   any   echo  of   their    teaching; 

1  E.r.  In  his  I  Ep.  xyuL  there  is  a  reproduction  of  Acts  xiii.  2a,  in 
hi  combination  of  i  Sam.  xiiL  14  and  Ps.  Ixxxix.  20,  its  addition  of 
tSSM  phrase  "son  of  Jesse,"  and  its  allusion  to  the  divine  testimonf. 
In  the  Greek  the  resemblance  is  even  more  striking. 

•  Cf.  vL  5,  riiL  40,  xxi.  8  ;  vii.  58,  viii.  i,  xxii.  ao;  L  5,  zL  z6 

tsayine  of  our  Lord's  being  here  twice  quoted  which  does  not  coca* 
any  «  tha  four  Gospels) ;  x.  47,  zv.  8 ;  iz.  30,  xi.  as,  ale. 


THE  ACTS  OP  THE  APOSTLES  43 

while  there  b  a  remarkable  absence  of  information  on 
■everal  important  points  mentioned  in  them  which  would 
naturally  have  called  for  explanation  had  they  come 
under  the  notice  of  the  writer  of  this  book  {e.g.  Gal.  i. 
17  ;  ii.  II  ;  2  Cor.  xi  24). 

But  although  there  Is  no  sign  of  acquaintance  with  the 
epistles  themselves,  there  are,  as  we  shall  see  when  we 
come  to  deal  with  these  writings,  many  "  undesigned 
coincidence  "  between  statements  contained  in  them  and 
in  the  Book  of  Acts,  which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  the  writers  in  both  cases  were  guided  by  a 
itrict  regard  for  truth. 

It  has  also  to  be  noted  that  while  there  is  no  sign  of 
acquaintance  with  Paul's  letters,  there  is  in  the  speeches 
attributed  to  him  an  admitted  resemblance  to  his  style  and 
diction,  which  is  best  accounted  for  by  the  writer's  having 
been  present  at  the  delivery  of  the  speeches,  or  having 
received  an  authentic  report  of  them.  It  is  interesting 
in  this  connection  to  observe  that  the  speech  which  PatU 
delivered  in  Hebrew  (xxii.  1-21),  and  which  was  no 
doubt  translated  into  its  present  Greek  form  by  Luke 
(judging  from  the  number  of  Luke's  favourite  words  to 
be  found  in  it),  is  far  less  Pauline  in  character  than  the 
speech  at  Athens  (xvii.  22-31),  which  was  spoken  in 
Greekj  and  was  in  all  probability  reported  to  Luke  by 
Paul  himself.  We  may  add  that  this  latter  speech  is 
not  only  Pauline  in  its  diction,  but  reflects  very  plainly 
the  apostle's  training  in  the  schools  of  Tarsus,  where 
the  Stoic  philosophy  was  in  great  repute.  We  hare  a 
similar  token  of  genuineness  in  the  harmony  between 
the  speeches  of  Peter  reported  in  this  book  and  the  first 
epistle  written  by  that  apostle.* 

Of  the  writer's  accuracy  in  matters  of  fact  abundant 
evidence  can  be  adduced.  In  the  titles  which  he  gives 
to  the  magistrates  of  the  various  cities  he  has  occasion  to 
mention,  he  is  supported  by  the  testimony  of  ancient 
writings,  coins,  and  inscriptions  in  a  most  remarkable 

^  Gt  M.  •3(  hr.  at,  and  1  Peter  L  a,  ao;  also  iv.  11  and  i  Pat* 


44       i^£^  TESTAMENT  &•  ITS   WRITERS 

manner ;  e.g,  the  name  of  politarchs  (**  rulers  of  the 
city "),  which  he  applies  to  the  magistrates  of  Thessa- 
lonica  (xvii.  6),  though  otherwise  unknown,  has  been 
discovered  on  an  arch  still  in  comparatively  good  pre- 
servation in  the  principal  street  of  the  city.*  His  many 
allusions  also  to  historical  characters  and  events  that  are 
otherwise  known  to  us,  are  almost  invariably  found  to 
be  true  to  fact ;  while  the  precision  of  his  nautical 
expressions  and  minute  geographical  allusions  in  his 
account  of  Paul's  voyage  and  shipwreck,  has  been  found 
so  remarkable  as  to  form  the  subject  of  a  special  dis- 
sertation.^ 

As  a  last  token  of  genuineness  may  be  mentioned  the 
fact  that  in  the  Book  of  Acts  the  positions  taken  up  by 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  respectively  with  reference 
to  Christ's  cause  are  almost  the  reverse  of  what  they 
are  in  the  Gospel.  This  change  of  attitude  was  due  to 
the  apostles'  preaching  of  the  Resurrection,  after  their 
Master's  departure  ;  but  it  \s.  a  circumstance  which  only 
a  contemporary  would  have  been  likely  to  realise  and 
represent  in  such  a  vivid  manner. 

Its  Date. — As  to  the  date  of  its  composition,  its 
abrupt  termination  —  leaving  us  in  ignorance  of  Paul's 
fate  and  of  his  subsequent  labours  (if  he  was  set  free 
from  his  imprisonment  at  Rome) — has  led  some  to 
suppose  that  the  author  brought  up  his  narrative  to  the 
very  moment  when  he  closed  the  book  and  despatched 
it  to  his  friend  Theophilus.  In  that  case  it  must  have 
left  the  writer's  hands  about  63  a.d.  But  it  may  be 
that  the  work  was  broken  off  owing  to  Luke's  death,  or 
he  may  have  had  it  in  view  to  complete  his  narrative  in 
another  volume,  or  he  may  have  felt  it  dangerous  to  go 
farther.  Yet  another  view  is  that  the  apostle's  preach- 
ing at  Rome  was  purposely'selected  by  the  writer  as  a 
suitable  finish  to  his  narrative  of  the  Church's  progress. 
On  the  whole,  we  may  be  content  with  the  assurance 


1  Similar  instances  are  found  at  xiiL  7  ;  rvL  ao ;  xviiL  x% ;  xxviiL 

See  Salmon's  Introduction,  pp.  348-49, 
«  By  Jamec  Smith,  Esq.,  F.R.S..  of  jordanhilL 


THE  ACTS  OP  THE  APOSTLES  45 

that  it  was  written  by  a  contemporaiy  and  companioiB 
of  the  apostle. 
Its  Character  and  Contents. — The  keynote  of  the 

book  is  struck  in  i.  8  :  **But  ye  shaU  receive  power, 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you :  and  ye  shall 
be  my  witnesses,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judaea,  and 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 
The  entire  book  records  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy. 
It  may  be  roughly  divided  into  three  parts  correspond- 
ing to  the  widening  spheres  of  labour  which  were  thus 
mdicated — "Jerusalem"  (L  13-vii.) ;  **all  Judaea  and 
Samaria"  (viii.-ix.) ;  "unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth"  (x.-xxviii.)  Each  of  the  three  is  marked  by  a 
notable  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (ii  1-4 ;  viii.  17  ; 
X,  44-48). 

Throughout  the  whole  narrative  prominence  is  given 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  subject  of  apostolic 
testimony  (ii.  32;  iii.  13-15;  v.  31,  32,  42;  viiL  5; 
X.  36-42),  as  the  bestower  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (iL  33), 
with  His  miraculous  gifts  (iii.  16 ;  ix.  34),  and  divine 
guidance  (i.  24  ;  x.  19  ;  xvi.  6-10),  as  personally  visible 
to  the  martyr  Stephen  (vii.  56),  and  as  the  personal 
agent  in  Paul's  conversion  (ix.  3-5). 

There  is  great  significance  in  the  description  of  Luke's 
Gospel,  given  in  the  opening  verse  of  this  book,  as  a 
treatise  "  concerning  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to  do  and 
to  teach,  until  the  day  in  which  he  was  received  up." 
The  position  of  the  word  "  began  "  is  very  emphatic  in 
the  original,  as  if  to  imply  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
formed  a  continuation  Oj  Chrisfs  work.  The  writer 
conceives  of  Him  as  still  carrying  on  His  work  in  virtue 
of  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension  ;  and  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  book  he  refers  to  these  events  as  well  as  to 
the  prediction  of  His  second  Advent  (i.  i-ii). 

The  continuity  of  the  divine  work  is  indeed  the  ruling 
idea  of  the  whole  book.  The  Gospel  kingdom  is  de- 
scribed as  advancing  steadily  onwards,  beginning  at 
J«<usalem  (in  the  same  upper  room,  perhaps,  as  had 
been   the  scene  of   the   Last    Supper),    and  extending 


♦t)      NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  JTS    WRITERS 

hnally  to  Rome,  the  great  metropolis  of  the  Gentiles. 
More  than  half  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  labours  of 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  three  of  his  missionary 
journeys  are  recorded — with  Antioch  for  his  headquarters, 
where  the  "  disciples  were  first  called  Christians  "(xl  26). 
Of  necessity  it  is  a  mere  selection  of  incidents  that  is 
given,  both  as  regards  the  labours  of  Paul  (cf^  2  Cor.  xi. 
24-27),  and  the  history  of  the  Church  during  the  thirty- 
three  years  or  more  over  which  the  book  extends.  The 
selection  was  no  doubt  determined  partly  by  the  informa- 
tion which  Luke  had  gathered  from  his  own  observa- 
tion as  an  eyewitness  or  from  trustworthy  reporters,* 
and  partly  by  the  great  object  he  had  in  view,  namely,  to 
trace  the  gradual  expansion  of  the  Church  from  its  first 
beginnings  as  a  seeming  phase  of  Judaism  to  its  full 
development  as  a  catholic  communion,  in  which  there 
was  to  be  no  distinction  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  and 
where  the  Law,  on  which  the  former  prided  himself  so 
greatly,  was  to  be  superseded  by  the  grau^  of  God 
freely  offered  in  the  GospeL 

1  E.g.  the  account  of  the  mission  in  Samaria  and  elsewhert 
In  chap.  viii.  would,  no  doubt,  be  mainly  derived  from  Philip,  with 
whom  the  writer  had  spent  many  days  at  Csesarea  (xxL  8>aQ^ 

>  A  fkvourit*  word  both  with  Sc  Luke  and  St.  PmiL 


THE  EPISTLES 


CHAPTER   Vm 

THS  BPISTLSS 
Th*  Epistles  of  St,  Paul— His  Previous  History 

THE  Epistles. — One  of  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics of  the  New  Testament  as  compared  with 
all  other  sacred  books  in  the  world  is  the  epistolary 
character  of  a  large  part  of  its  contents. 

It  contains  21  letters  by  6  different  authors — lo  (or  9) 
addressed  to  individual  Churches,^  5  (or  6)  to  private 
persons,  and  2  to  Hebrew  Christians,  the  remainder  being 
of  a  more  or  less  general  nature  (I  and  2  Peter,  I  John, 
and  Jude). 

Besides  these,  wc  have  reason  to  believe  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  (a  Cor.  xL  28),  and  from  special 
allusions  (i  Cor.  r.  9 ;  2  Thess.  iil  17),  that  there  were 
other  apostolic  letters  which  have  not  been  preserved. 
That  Providence  should  have  suffered  such  inspired 
writings  to  perish  is  in  no  degree  more  remarkable  than ' 
that  so  many  of  our  Lord's  own  words  should  have  passed 
mto  oblivion  ;  and  we  can  readily  understand  that  dur- 
ing the  apostles'  lifetime  their  letters  were  less  prized 
than  after  their  death,  when  the  loss  any  of  of  their 
writings  was  seen  to  be  irreparable. 

Although  most  of  the  epistles  were  written  at  an 
earlier  period  than  the  Gospels,  they  represent  in  general 
a  more  advanced  stage  of  Christian  theology.  In  the 
epbtles  we  have  the  fruits  of  twenty  or  thirty  years' 

2SMpbl47. 


48       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

reflecnon  on  the  great  facts  and  elementary  truths  con- 
tained in  the  Synoptical  Gospels,  viewed  in  the  light  of 
Christian  experience  and  under  the  teaching  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  taking  of  the  things  that  are  Christ's  and  showing 
them  to  the  Church.  To  the  epistles  we  are  mainly 
indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  Christian  doctrine  on 
such  subjects  as  the  Trinity,  the  relations  of  Christ  to 
the  human  race  and  to  His  Church,  the  Atonement, 
Justification  by  Faith,  and  Sanctification  by  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

But  while  largely  doctrinal  in  character,  most  of  the 
epistles  differ  very  considerably  from  formal  treatises, 
being  enlivened  with  personal  allusions,  aad  dealing 
largely  with  questions  of  a  practical  nature. 

The  Epistles  of  Paul.— The  last  remark  applies 
specially  to  the  epistles  of  Paul,  which  had  their  rise 
not  in  abstract  speculations,  but  in  the  needs  and  circum- 
stances of  the  various  Churches  to  which  they  were 
addressed.  They  are  filled  with  the  living  personality 
of  the  writer,  and  lay  hold  so  vividly  upon  the  reader's 
sympathies,  that  they  have  been  described  by  Luther  as 
"  not  mere  dead  words,  but  living  creatures  with  hands 
and  feet." 

They  are  thirteen  in  number.  Their  composition 
ranges  over  a  period  of  about  fifteen  years,  the  earliest 
of  them  ( I  and  2  Thess. )  having  been  written  about  53 
A.D.,  sixteen  years  after  the  apostle's  conversion ;  the 
last  of  them  (the  pastoral  epistles  to  Titus  and  Timothy) 
very  near  the  close  of  his  life,  approaching  68  a.  d. 

In  the  interval  were  produced  two  other  groups  of 
epistles — those  designed  to  vindicate  Paul's  apostolic 
authority,  and  preserve  the  Gospel  from  the  inroads  of 
Judaism,  viz.  X  and  2  Corinthians,  Galatians,  and 
Romans  (written  during  his  third  missionary  journey, 
about  57-58  A.D.),  and  the  Epistles  of  the  Imprisonment, 
viz.  Philippians,  Colossians,  Philemon,  and  Ephesians, 
written  from  Rome  about  62-63  •'^•D. 

The  most  of  them  were  probably  collected  and  io 
more  or  less  general  use  in  the  Church  within  a  shc^rt 


THE  EPISTLES  49 

ime  after  the  apostle's  death,  as  wc  may  infer  from  the 
traces  of  them  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Clement 
of  Rome  (95  A.D.),  Ignatius  (died  1 15  A.D.),  and  Poly- 
carp  (died  155  A.D.) 

In  our  New  Testament  the  Pauline  epistles  are  ar- 
ranged according  to  their  length  and  importance,  but 
there  is  an  obvious  advantage  in  studying  them  in  their 
chronological  order^  as  it  enables  us  to  trace  the  progres- 
sive development  of  the  apostle's  theology  and  the 
growth  of  his  literary  style,  as  well  as  to  realise  the  cir- 
cumstances out  of  which  the  epistles  successively  arose. 

It  is  a  circumstance  worth  noting  as  an  explanation  in 
some  measure  of  the  occasional  abruptness  and  irregu- 
larity of  the  apostle's  style  (and  perhaps  of  its  vivacity), 
that  his  letters  were  usually  written  by  an  amanuensis 
to  dictation^ — the  salutation  only  being  written  with  his 
own  hand,  as  a  token  of  genuineness.^ 

His  undisputed  Epistles. — i  and  2  Corinthians, 
Romans,  and  Galatians  have  the  distinction  of  being  almost 
universally  admitted  to  be  genuine  writings  of  PauL 

This  admission  is  a  most  important  one  from  an 
evidential  point  of  view,  as  these  epistles  form  a  valuable 
historical  link  between  the  earliest  preaching  of  the 
apostles  and  the  composition  of  our  four  Gospels.  They 
contain  a  great  many  references  to  detailed  matters  of 
fact  mentioned  in  the  Gospels,  and  prove  that  the  story 
of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection,  as  told  in  the  four 
Gospels,  was  the  chief  theme  of  Paul's  preaching  ( i  Cor. 
XV.  1-8;  xi.  23-28). 

With  regard  to  our  Lorcts  resurrection  in  particular^ 
they  prove  that  event  to  have  been  generally  believed  in 
by  the  Church  in  St.  Paul's  time,  and  to  have  been 
from  the  first  the  basis  of  the  apostle's  preaching  ( I  Cor. 
XV.  1-20).  They  also  imply  the  exercise  oi  supernatural 
powers  by  the  apostle  himself,  as  a  fact  generally  ad- 
mitted and  not  likely  to  be  called  in  question  even  by 
those  who  were  opposed  to  him  (2  Cor.  xii.  11 -1 3),  and 

1  Cf.  Rom.  zvi.  M :  I  Cor.  xn.  »i ;  GaL  vL  u ;  a  Theai.  iO.  if  | 
PbUemoD,  ver.  s9> 


50       NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS    WRITERS 

they  show  the  existence  in  the  Church  of  spiritttal  gifts 
on  a  large  scale  and  with  many  well-defined  variations, 
that  were  commonly  regarded  as  the  result  of  super- 
natural influence  (I  Cor.  xii.-xiv.) 

We  are  thus  in  a  great  measure  independent  of  the 
four  Gospels  for  our  knowledge  of  the  original  truths 
and  principles  of  Christianity ;  and  we  have  in  the  epistles 
a  practical  refutation  of  the  mythical  theories  which  would 
attribute  the  supernatural  elements  in  our  Gospels  to  the 
gradual  growth  of  legend  in  the  Church. 

The  evidence  derived  from  the  epistles  is  all  the  more 
valuable  because  it  is  indirect,  the  letters  having  mani- 
festly been  written  without  any  such  object  in  view.  It 
has  to  be  noted  too  that  they  are  addressed  to  several 
independent  communities  far  removed  from  one  another. 
One  of  these  communities  (the  Church  in  Rome)  had 
received  its  Christianity  from  another  source  than  the 
apostle,  while  in  the  two  others  (Corinth  and  Galatia) 
there  were  opponents  to  criticise  his  statements,  as  well 
as  friends  to  sympathise  with  him.  In  these  circum- 
stances falsehood  or  error  with  reference  to  important 
matters  of  fact  was  extremely  improbable.  To  this  we 
may  add  that  the  letters  are  evidently  the  productions  of 
a  man  whose  sincerity  is  as  great  as  his  intellectual 
acuteness  and  sobriety  of  judgment,  and  who,  from  his 
early  association  with  the  Jewish  authorities  at  Jerusalem, 
was  in  a  position  to  know  all  that  could  be  said  against 
the  alleged  facts  of  Christianity. 

Altogether,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  a  study  of 
these  epistles  leads  inevitably  to  the  conclusion  that 
Paul's  gospel  had  the  same  historical  groundwork  as  the 
gospel  preached  at  the  present  day — that  groundwork 
consisting  of  the  same  essential  and  well-attested  facts 
regarding  Christ's  life  and  teaching  as  we  find  recorded 
in  the  four  Gospels. 

His  previous  History. — Regarding  the  previous 
life  of  the  author,  the  following  brief  statement  may 
suffice.  Paul  (originally  called  Saul)  was  bom  within  a 
few  yettn  after  our  Lord's  nativity,  in  the  dtj  of  Tarsus 


THE  EPISTLES 


in  Cilicia,  a  famous  seat  of  classical  learning.  Hii 
father,  though  a  Roman  citizen,  was  of  Hebrew  descent, 
and  brought  up  his  son  in  the  strictest  observance  of  the 
Jewish  law.  Trained  at  Jerusalem  under  the  renowned 
Pharisaic  teacher  Gamaliel,  Saul  became  thoroughly 
versed  in  Rabbinical  literature,  and  was  equally  distin- 
guished for  his  learning  and  his  zeal.  He  was  among 
the  earliest  and  fiercest  persecutors  of  the  Christians, 
whom  he  regarded  as  apostates  from  the  religion  of  their 
fathers  ;  and  it  was  while  he  was  on  his  way  to  Damascus 
in  the  execution  of  a  warrant  from  the  high  priest  that 
he  was  suddenly  convened  (about  37  A.D.)  by  the  direct 
intei-position  of  the  Risen  Christ.  From  Him  he  re- 
ceived a  special  commission  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  in  His  service  he  continued  with  unflinching 
courage  and  devotion,  in  spite  of  calumny  and  persecution, 
to  the  last  hour  of  his  life.  After  about  eight  years, 
spent  partly  in  retirement,  partly  in  preaching  in  Syria 
and  Cilicia,  he  joined  (about  44  A.D.)  his  old  friend  Bar- 
nabas, a  liberal-minded  evangelist,  at  Antioch,  which 
was  soon  to  become  the  great  centre  of  missionary 
enterprise  for  the  early  Church.  In  company  with  Bar- 
nabas, Paul  made  his  first  missionary  journey  (about  48 
A.D.),  through  Cyprus  and  part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  at- 
tended the  Council  at  Jerusalem  (about  50  A.D.),  to  advo- 
cate the  cause  of  the  Gentile  converts  in  their  struggle 
against  the  bigotry  of  their  Jewish  brethren.  In  the 
following  year  he  started  on  his  second  and  more  exten- 
sive missionary  tour,  in  the  course  of  which,  under  the 
divine  guidance,  he  crossed  over  to  Europe,  founding  a 
number  of  Churches  there,  among  others  that  of  Thes- 
salonica.  He  reached  Corinth  in  52  A.D.,  from  which, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  he  wrote  the  first  of  his 
epistles  that  have  been  preserved  to  iui»  namelj  I  and 
3  Thessalonians. 


Sa       N£W  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WjRITEHS 


CHAPTER    IX 

I  AND  2  THI^SALONIANS 

••THS   first   epistle   of   PAUL   THE   APOSTLB 
TO  THE   THESSALONIANS  " 

\117"H0  wrote  it. — There  is  ample  external  evidence 
*  *  to  prove  that  this  epistle  was  acknowledged  to 
be  a  genuine  writing  of  St  Paul  in  the  second  quarter 
of  the  second  century,  while  expressions  apparently 
borrowed  from  it  are  to  be  found  in  writings  of  a  much 
earlier  date. 

The  few  critics  who  have  called  its  genuineness  in 
question  have  done  so  on  internal  grounds,  alleging 
against  it  both  its  likeness  and  its  unlikeness  to  the  other 
epistles  of  Paul.  But  its  unlikeness  is  satisfactorily  ac- 
counted for  by  the  comparatively  early  date  of  its  com- 
position, and  the  very  exceptional  nature  of  the  occasion 
on  which  it  was  written ;  while  its  likeness  is  largely  due  to 
the  habit  of  repetition  which  is  a  marked  characteristic  of 
the  apostle,  and  to  the  germination  of  ideas  more  fully 
developed  in  his  subsequent  writings.  Moreover,  the 
resemblance  between  this  and  other  writings  of  St  Paul 
is  often  so  subtle  and  minute — depending  on  the  play  of 
personal  feelingy^  or  on  peculiarities  of  ttyU^ — as  to  pre- 
clude the  idea  of  forgery. 

1  Ct  IL  x6,  iii.  6-IO,  and  Rom.  f.  13,  •  Cor.  L  rtS,  xllL  t. 

•  E^.  a  cursory  sequence  of  thought  (i.  a-8)  ;  the  combination  of 
■eeming  contraries  (i.  6,  cf.  2  Cor.  viii.  1,  Col.  i.  ii-ia) ;  verbal  con- 
traaU  (li.  17  ;  iv.  7,  cf.  i  Cor.  v.  3,  2  Cor.  v.  i,  2).  The  force  of 
these  arguments  cannot  be  fully  understood  without  a  knowledge  of 
she  original  (Jowett,  vol.  i.  pp.  19-25). 


t   THESSALONIANS  S3 


The  language  of  the  epistle  with  reference  to  th^  second 
earning  of  Christ  is  also  at  variance  with  the  supposition 
of  forgery.  It  seems  to  imply  an  expectation  on  the 
part  of  the  apostle  that  he  would  live  to  see  that  event 
(iv.  15-17).  But  such  an  expectation  was  not  likely  to 
be  introduced  by  a  forger  when  it  had  already  been 
falsified  by  the  apostle's  death, — as  it  must  have  been, 
long  before  forgery  could  have  been  successfully  at- 
tempted. In  this  connection  we  may  also  note  the 
apparent  discrepancy  between  Acts  xviii.  5  and  i  Thess, 
L  3,  into  which  a  forger  depending  for  his  information 
on  the  Book  of  Acts  would  not  have  been  likely  to  fall, 
and  which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  a 
journey  of  Timothy  (from  Athens  or  Beroea  to  Thessa- 
lonica)  left  imrecorded  in  the  Book  of  Acts.  There  is  a 
similar  discrepancy  between  chapter  i.  9,  which  speaks 
of  the  converts  as  having  "turned  from  their  idols," 
and  Acts  xvii.  4,  which  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
the  Church  of  Thessalonica  was  largely  Jewish.*  In  il 
17-18  there  is  a  reference  to  the  apostle's  disappoint- 
ment in  not  being  able  to  carry  out  his  intention  of  re- 
visiting his  converts,  but  such  an  intention  is  nowhere 
mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Acts.  All  the  three  variations 
may  be  regarded  as  a  proof  that  the  epistle  was  written 
independently  of  the  ActSy  and  that  their  general  harmony 
b  due  to  their  common  fidelity  to  facts. 

To  whom  written. — **  Unto  the  Church  of  the 
Thessalonians."  Thessalonica  was  then,  as  it  is  still 
(under  the  name  of  Saloniki),  an  important  mercantile 
emporium,  with  a  considerable  proportion  of  Jewish 
inhabitants  sharing  in  its  general  prosperity.  It  is  now 
the  second  city  of  European  Turkey  ;  in  the  time  of  the 
apostle  it  was  the  capital  of  Macedonia.  It  lay  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Mount  Olympus,  the  fabled  home  of 
the   gods,  and   was  a  place  of  exile  for   Cicero,  who 

1  The  difficulty  vaa.y  be  met  by  adopting  a  reading  of  Acti 
«Tfi.  4  that  is  found  in  some  MSS.,  namely,  "of  the  devout 
(pjroselytes)  and  the  Greeks  a  great  multitude,  or  by  supposing 
that  the  apostle  preached  to  the  Geatiles  after  tba  thret  Sahhath^ 
days  mentioned  in  Acts  zviL  a. 


54       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

tells  how  he  gazed  up  at  the  sacred  summit,  but  saw 
aothmg  but  snow  and  ice. 

The  Church  of  Thchsalonica  was  planted  by  St.  Paul 
in  the  course  of  his  second  missionary  tour  in  52  A.D. 
(Acts  xvii.  I-Il),  after  his  memorable  visit  to  Phihppi. 
His  stay  in  the  city  seems  to  have  been  short,  owing  to 
a  rising  of  the  mob,  stirred  up  against  him  by  the  Jews ; 
but  it  was  long  enough  for  the  Philippians  to  send  "  once 
and  again"  unto  his  need  (Phil.  iv.  16).  Previously  he 
had  been  earning  his  own  bread  (ii.  9;  2  These,  iii. 
7-8) — doubtless  in  the  exercise  of  his  calling  as  a  tent- 
maker  (Actsxviii.  3),  as  "one  of  the  staple  manufactures 
of  the  city  was  and  is  goats'-hair  cloth.  The  sound  that 
follows  the  ear  as  one  walks  through  the  streets  of 
Saloniki  to-day  is  the  wheezing  and  straining  vibration 
of  the  loom  and  the  pendulum -like  click  of  the  regular 
and  ceaseless  shuttle."  Paul  paid  a  second  visit  to  the 
place  shortly  before  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem.  The 
Church  was  mainly  Gentile  in  its  composition,  as  we  may 
infer  not  only  from  i.  9  but  also  from  the  fact  that  the 
epistles  addressed  to  it  do  not  contain  a  single  quotation 
from  the  Old  Testament. 

Thessalonica  played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of 
Christendom,  as  a  bulwark  agb.inst  the  Turks,  whence  it 
was  known  as  the  Orthodox  city.  Its  modem  popula- 
tion (about  90,000)  consists  chiefly  of  Mohammedans  and 
Jews,  and  includes  but  a  small  number  of  Christians. 

Where  and  when  written. — The  epistle  itself 

supplies  us  with  an  answer.  From  iii.  6-8  we  learn 
that  it  was  written  on  the  return  of  Timothy,  whom 
Paul  had  sent  (apparently  from  Athens)  to  rer'sit  the 
Thessalonian  Church  (iii.  1-2).  But  Acts  xviii.  5  informs 
us  that  Silas  and  Timothy  rejoined  the  apostle  during 
his  stay  of  a  year  and  a  half  at  Corinth.  We  conclude 
therefore  that  the  epistle  was  written  from  that  city, — 
not  long  after  the  apostle's  arrival,  as  we  may  infer  from 
iL  17.  This  would  be  about  53  A.O.,  probably  early  in 
that  year. 
Its  Gharacter  and  Contents.— This  epistle  is  an 


X   THESSALONIANS  55 


outpouring  of  the  apostlis  feelings    towards   a  Church 
whose  hearty  reception  of  the  Gospel  was  to  him  a  mattei 
of  constant  gratitude  to  God  (i.  2-6),  from  which  he  had 
been  reluctantly  separated  (ii.  \^  ;  Hi.  i,  2),  whose  repu- 
tation had  already  spread  far  and  wide  (i.  T-\o),  and  of 
whose  patience  and  constancy  he  had  received  a  gratify- 
ing report  from  Timothy  (iii.  6-9).     It  contains  also  a 
vindication  of  his  <nun  character  from  the  aspersions  of 
the  Jews,  who  seem  to  have  put  a  bad  construction  on 
his  sudden   departure   from   the  city.      In  refutation  of 
these  calumnies  Paul  appeals  to  the  experience  his  con- 
verts had  of  his  life  and  conduct  while  he  was  with  them, 
and  to  the  salutary  effects  of  his  preaching  (ii.)     He 
prays  that   God   would    grant  him  a  fulfilment   of  the 
desire,  which  he  feels  intensely,  to  revisit  them  for  the 
perfecting  of  their  faith,  and  that  meanwhile  their  spiritual 
life    may   be    developed    and    strengthened    (iii.   10-13). 
With  this  view  he  exhorts  them  (iv.)  to  the  cultivation 
^f  certain  virtues— purity  (w.  1-8),  brotherly  love  (w. 
9.10),  industry  (VT.  11-12)— which  they  were  in  danger 
of  neglecting. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  this  epistle,  however,  ai 
of  that  which  follows,  is  the  prominence  it  gives  to 
ChHsfs  Second  Coming.  This  had  been  a  main  theme 
of  Paul's  preaching  when  he  was  in  Thessalonica  (L  10 ; 
ii.  12 ;  cf.  Acts  xvii.  7),  and  it  had  so  taken  possession 
of  his  hearers  that  the  bereavements  they  had  suffered 
by  the  death  of  relatives  since  the  apostle  left  them, 
were  chiefly  mourned  because  they  thought  the  departed 
friends  would  have  no  share  in  the  glory  of  the  Saviour's 
Advent.  The  comfort  which  Paul  administers  (iv.  13- 
18)  when  he  assures  his  converts  that  their  fean  in  this 
matter  are  groundless,  gives  one  the  idea  that  he 
expected  Christ  to  come  in  his  own  lifetime.^  In  this 
respect  the  language  of  this  epistle  differs  widely  firom 
the  allusions  to  his  approaching  death  in  his  later  epistles 
(2  Cor.  V.  1}  Phil.  i.  21-24;  2  Tim.  iv.  6).  That 
the  apostle  should  have  been  left  to  his  own  impressions 
in  this  matter  is  in  striking  harmony  with  oar  Locd's 


Sb       i^HW   iESTAMENT  is*  ITii    WRITERS 

statement,  *•  But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  cue, 
not  even  the  angels  of  heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  tue 
Father  only"  (Mati.  xxiv.  36,  cf.  Acts  l-  7).  That  it 
would  come  suddenly  and  called  for  constant  watchful- 
ness was  a  truth  often  dwelt  upon  by  Christ,  which  the 
apostle  could  safely  enforce,  as  he  does  in  this  epistto 
(v.  i-li). 


••the  second   epistle  of  PAUL  THE  APOSTLB 
TO  THE  THESSALONIANS  " 

WllO  wrote  it. — We  have  the  same  external  evi- 
dence for  the  genuineness  of  the  second  epistle  as  of  the 
first.  Internally  it  bears  evidence  of  being  a  sequel  to 
the  other,  being  written,  like  it,  in  the  name  of  Paul  and 
Silas  and  Timothy  (i.  I),  and  containing  a  direct  allusion 
to  the  previous  epistle  (ii.  15).  As  might  have  been 
expected,  it  contains  fewer  and  more  distant  allusions  to 
the  apostle's  sojourn  in  Thessalonica. 

The  prophetic  passage  in  chapter  iL  I-12  has  been  %. 
stumbling-block  to  many  critics,  who  have  imagined  it  to 
bear  the  stamp  of  a  later  period.  In  reality,  however, 
it  is  quite  consistent  with  the  teaching  of  the  first  epistle, 
which  nowhere  implies  that  the  coming  of  Christ  was  to 
be  immediate,  although  it  was  to  be  sudden  and  was 
apparently  to  take  place  in  the  apostle's  lifetime.  Pre- 
dictions of  a  similar  kind  had  been  uttered  by  our  Lord 
Himself  (Matt  xxiv.),  and  were  also  to  be  found  in  the 
books  of  Daniel  and  Ezekiel. 

To  whom  written.— See  page  53. 

Where  and  when  written.— Like  the  first  epistle, 
it  is  written  in  the  name  of  Paul,  Silas,  and  Timothy. 
The  three  were  together  at  Corinth,  and  apparently,  so 
far  as  the  Book  of  Acts  informs  us,  nowhere  else.  This 
leads  to  the  inference  that  this  epistle,  like  the  first,  was 
written  from  that  city — probably  a  few  months  later. 
In  the  interval  the  excitement  and  disorder  consequent 
apon  the  expectation  of  Christ's  coming,  in  the  midst  ol 


a   THESSALOiSiANS  Si 

the  persecution  to  which  the  converts  were  exposed, 
had  grown  even  more  serious  (i.  5  ;  ii.  6  ;  iii.  6- 1 1). 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — Along  with  an 

expression  of  satisfaction  with  their  continued  faith  and 
steadfastness  in  the  midst  of  their  persecutions  and 
afflictions  (I.  I -4),  Paul  assures  the  Thessalonians  that 
Christ  will  infallibly  come  to  vindicate  their  cause, 
"  rendering  vengeance  "  to  His  and  their  enemies,  and  at 
the  same  time  ••to  be  glorified  in  his  saints"  (L  5-12). 
But  he  warns  them  against  being  carried  away  with  the  idea 
— due  in  some  measure  to  a  misconstruction  of  his  own 
teaching  (ii.  1-2) — that  Christ's  coming  was  immediately 
to  tjke  place.  He  mentions  that  certain  great  events 
must  first  come  to  pass  (ii.  3- 1 2),  and  exhorts  them  to 
the  exercise  of  continued  patience  in  the  strength  of 
divine  grace  (ii.  13-17),  bidding  them  lead  a  quiet, 
honest,  and  industrious  life,  such  as  he  had  given  aa 
example  of  while  he  was  yet  with  them  (iii.  6- 1 6). 

The  characteristic  passage  is  ii.  I- 12.  Its  meaning 
Aas  been  the  subject  of  endless  controversy,  owing  to  the 
attempts  which  have  been  made  to  identify  the  ••  man  of 
sin,"  and  the  **one  that  restraineth  now,"  with  historical 
dynasties  or  persons.  For  the  former  there  have  been 
suggested  Nero,  Mahomet,  the  Pope,  Luther,  Napoleon ; 
for  the  latter  the  Roman  Empire,  the  German  Empire, 
Claudius,  and  even  Paul  himself.  But  the  truer  inter- 
pretation seems  to  be  to  regard  those  expressions  as 
referring  to  two  great  Undencies — the  one  antichristlan, 
in  the  form  of  secular  unbelief,  and  the  other  political, 
in  the  form  of  the  civil  power.  The  breakdown  of  the 
latter  before  the  aggressive  march  of  Socialistic  unbelief, 
under  the  leadership  perhaps  of  some  one  realising  on  a 
gigantic  scale  the  antichristian  feeling  and  ambition  of 
the  age,  may  be  the  signal  for  the  Advent  of  the  true  Christ 
ic  His  heavenly  power  and  glory. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  <&•  ITS  WRITERS 


CHAPTER   X 

"THE   FIRST   EPISTLE   OF   PAUL   THE   APOSTLB 
TO   THE   CORINTHIANS" 

^ITHO  wrote  it,  —  As  already  mentioned,  the 
^^  Pauline  authorship  of  this  epistle  is  admitted 
with  practical  unanimity.  The  external  evidence  is 
abundant,  from  the  end  of  the  first  century  onward. 
In  particular  we  find  in  the  first  epistle  of  Clement  of 
Rome  to  the  Church  of  Corinth  (95  a.d.)  the  following 
unmistakable  reference  :  "  Take  up  the  epistle  of  the 
blessed  Paul  the  apostle.  What  was  it  that  he  first 
wrote  to  you  in  the  beginning  of  the  gospel?  Of  a 
truth  it  was  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  that  he 
wrote  to  you  in  his  epistle  concerning  himself  and 
Cephas  and  Apollos,  because  then  as  well  as  now  yon 
had  formed  partialities"  (cf.  i  Cor.  i.  12). 

But  the  internal  evidence  would  of  itself  be  decisive. 
For  this  epistle — and  still  more  2  Corinthians — bears  very 
distinct  traces  of  M^  opposition  which  Paul  had  to  encounter 
before  his  apostolic  authority  was  firmly  established ; 
and  we  know  that  such  opposition  had  been  vanquished 
long  before  his  death.  It  is  full  of  minute  references 
to  the  state  of  the  Corinthian  Church  —  being  to  a 
large  extent  the  apostle's  reply  to  a  letter  of  inquiry 
j&rom  that  Church  (vii.  i).  But  it  also  deals  with 
a  number  of  evils  and  disorders  in  the  Church  which 
had  come  to  the  apostle's  knowledge  through  other 
channels  (L  11  ;  ▼.  I ;  xi.  18).     This  last  circumstance. 


1  CORINTHIANS 


fts  Paley  points  out  in  his  Horct  Paulina;  (iii.  l),  is 
a  token  of  reality,  as  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
the  Corinthians  should  deliberately  expose  their  own 
faults.  At  the  same  time  their  acknawledgment  and 
preservation  of  the  epistle,  notwithstanding  the  aspersions 
which  it  casts  on  their  early  character  as  a  Church,  is 
a  proof  of  its  apostolic  claims  to  their  regard.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  too,  that  it  contains  numerous  refer 
ences  to  PauPs  movements,  which  would  scarcely  have 
been  ventured  on  by  an  impostor  ;  and  a  comparison  of 
the  epistle  with  the  Book  of  Acts  and  other  parts  of  the 
New  Testament  brings  out  many  striking  coincidences, 
which  can  best  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  of 
its  genuineness.^ 

Along  with  Paul  Sosthenes  is  associated  (possibly  the 
converted  ruler  of  the  synagogue.  Acts  xviii.  17), — who 
may  have  acted  as  the  apostle's  amanuensis. 

To  whom  written.  — *•  Unto  the  church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth  "  (i.  2).  In  the  apostle's  time 
Corinth  was  practically  the  capital  of  Greece.  It  had 
attained  pre-eminence  at  a  much  earlier  period,  owing 
to  its  commercial  advantages,  but  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  Roman  conqueror  about  two  hundred  years  before 
Paul's  visit.  After  lying  in  ruins  for  a  century,  it  was 
rebuilt  by  Julius  Caesar  46  B.C.,  and  peopled  by  a 
Roman  colony.  This  may  account  for  the  Roman 
names  mentioned  in  the  epistle  (i.  14  ;  xvi.  17).  We 
have  an  allusion  to  the  effects  produced  by  the  ravage? 
of  the  conqueror  on  the  various  kinds  of  buildings  (iii 
12-13),  and  also  to  the  gladiatorial  exhibitions  (iv.  9). 

Situated  at  the  foot  of  a  great  rock  called  Acrocor 
inthus  about  2000  feet  high  on  the  Isthmus  (famous  foi 
its  games,  ix.  24-27)  which  connected  the  Peloponnesu*^ 
with  the  mainland,  and  lying  in  the  direct  route  between 
Ephesus  and  Rome,  Corinth  rapidly  regained  its  forme! 
prosperity  and  became  the  chief  emporium  of  Europe, 

1  Cf.  uL  6  and  Acts  xviiL  24,  xix.  x ;  xvi.  lo-ii.  AcU  xfac.  »i 
«  and  I  Tun.  iv.  la;  t.  i4-«7»  acvi.  15,  Acts  xviii.  8  and  Rom 
xn.  33. 


tx)       NEW   TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

idth  a  population  of  more  than  half  a  million,  drawn 
from  many  lands.  It  was  so  notorious  for  its  profligacy — 
encouraged  by  its  very  worship — that  a  "Corinthian  life" 
was  synonymous  with  luxury  and  licentiousness.  At  the 
same  time  its  inhabitants  made  such  pretensions  to  pkilo- 
iophy  and  literary  culture  that  '*  Corinthian  words  *'  was 
a  phrase  meaning  polished  and  cultivated  speech. 

In  this  great  and  busy  centre  Paul  spent  a  year  and 
a  half  or  more  (Acts  xviii.)  in  his  second  missionary 
)oumey — being  the  longest  time  he  had  ever  yet  labouxed 
continuously  in  any  city.  He  found  a  home  in  the 
house  of  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  a  Jewish  couple  who  had 
recently  come  from  Rome  in  consequence  of  the  d-ecree 
of  Claudius  (xvi.  19),  eminent  for  their  generosity  and 
devotion  (Rom.  xvi.  4-5),  with  whom  he  wrought  at  his 
trade  of  tent-making  (Acts  xviiL  2,  3  ;  xx.  34,  35  ;  i 
Cor.  iv.  11-12). 

Beginning  his  ministry  in  the  synagogue  as  usual,  he 
was  soon  compelled  by  the  opposition  of  the  Jews  to 
seek  another  place  of  meeting,  which  he  found  in  the 
house  of  Justus,  a  converted  proselyte.  There  ht 
preached  the  Gospel,  encouraged  by  a  message  from  God 
in  a  vision,  and  continued  to  do  so  with  no  small  suc- 
cess notwithstanding  an  attempt  of  the  Jews  to  invoke 
the  civil  power  against  him  (Acts  xviii.  4-18).  His  con- 
verts appear  to  have  been  chiefly  drawn  from  the  Icwer 
classes  (i.  26-29),  but  they  were  not  free  from  the  pre- 
vailing tendency  to  intellectual  pride  (i.  17-ii.  I  £  ;  viiL 
I ),  accompanied  with  a  proneness  to  sensual  sin^  eqtially 
characteristic  of  their  city  (v.  I-II  ;  vi.  15-18;  xi.  21). 
The  apostle  speaks  (iL  3)  of  having  been  with  them  "in 
weakness  and  in  fear,  and  in  much  trembling" — possibly 
the  result  of  his  recent  apparent  failure  at  Athens. 

Where  and  when  written. — It  can  be  proved 
with  tolerable  certainty  that  the  epistle  was  written  from 
Ephesus^  about  the  spring  of  57  or  58  A.D. 

From    iv.  17-19   and   xvi.   5    we    learn  that  it  wu 

I  The  note  at  the  end  of  the  epistle  in  the  A.V.  ia  da*  ta  • 
abapprehension  of  xri.  5. 


1  CORINTHIANS  61 

written  on  the  eve  of  a  second  visit  to  Corinth,  which 
the  apostle  was  about  to  pay  after  passing  through  Mace* 
donia, — having  already  sent  Timothy  in  advance  as  hb 
representative  (xvi.  10).  When  we  turn  to  the  Book  0/ 
Acts  we  find  that  such  a  visit  to  Greece  was  paid  by  the 
apostle  at  the  close  of  a  sojourn  of  about  three  years 
at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  8-10;  xx.  1-3,  31),  and  it  appears 
from  xix.  21-23  that  almost  immediately  before  he  left 
Ephesus  he  sent  Timothy  before  him  to  Macedonia. 
Moreover,  several  expressions  in  the  epistle  plainly  point 
to  Ephesus  as  the  place  from  which  it  emanated  (xvi.  8- 
10,  cf.  Acts  xix.  20-26  ;  xvi.  19,  c£  Acts  xviii.  18-26  ; 
XV.  32). 

As  the  apostle  appears  to  have  travelled  for  about  a 
year  after  leaving  Corinth  on  the  first  occasion  (54 
A.D.),  previous  to  settling  at  Ephesus,  his  stay  in  the 
latter  city  may  have  extended  to  the  beginning  of  58 
A.D.  Several  allusions  to  the  seasons  which  occur  in 
the  epistle  (v.  7-8  ;  xvi.  6,  8)  lead  us  to  place  its  com- 
position in  the  spring  of  58  a.d.  or  of  the  preceding 
year. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — Of  this  epistle  it 

has  been  fitly  said  that  it  is  **a  fragment  which  has  no 
parallel  in  ecclesiastical  history."  It  deals  with  a  sec- 
tion of  early  Church  history  which  exhibits  the  most 
marked  and  varied  features.  It  sets  the  apostle  vividly 
before  us  as  a  teacher  and  governor,  confronted  with  the 
dangers  and  perplexities^  the  errors  and  corruptions 
to  which  the  Corinthian  Church  was  liable,  planted  as 
it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  rankest  heathenism.  In  the 
words  of  Dean  Stanley,  *'  we  are  here  allowed  to  witness 
the  earliest  conflict  of  Christianity  with  the  culture  and  the 
vices  of  the  ancient  classical  world  ;  here  we  have  an 
insight  into  the  principles  which  regulated  the  apostle's 
choice  or  rejection  of  the  customs  of  that  vast  £abric  of 
heathen  society  which  was  then  emphatically  called 
'  the  world' ;  here  we  trace  the  mode  in  which  he  com- 
bated the  false  pride,  the  false  knowledge,  the  false 
liberality,  the  false  freedom,  the  false  display,  the  £ds* 


6a      NEW  TESTAMENT  &>  ITS   WRITERS 

philosophy,  to  which  an  intellectual  age,  especially  in  a 
declining  nation,  is  constantly  liable." 

The  epistle  is  thus  eminently  practical,  dealing  with 
questions  that  had  actually  emerged  in  the  experience  of 
the  Church  to  which  it  is  addressed.  In  form  it  is 
orderly  and  logical,  taking  up  one  point  after  another  in 
regular  succession  ;  in  style  it  is  more  simple  and  direct 
than  most  of  Paul's  compositions,  rising  a'^  times  into 
the  sublimest  eloquence,  as  in  the  eulogium  on  charity 
in  the  13th  chapter. 

As  already  mentioned,  the  epistle  was  in  part  the 
reply  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  which  had  been  sent  to  the 
apostle  by  the  Corinthian  Church  in  consequence  of  a 
letter  which  he  had  previously  addressed  to  them.  (v.  9. 
II  ;   vil  I  ;   xvi.  17-18). 

But  the  first  six  chapters  have  mainly  reference  to 
certain  dangers  threatening  the  Church,  of  which  infor- 
mation had  reached  the  apostle  from  another  quarter, 
causing  him  the  utmost  anxiety  and  grief  (2  Cor.  ii.  4). 
These  dangers  were  mainly  twofold — the  prevalence  of 
party  spirit,  and  the  tendency  to  immorality.  Hence 
the  prominence  given,  in  the  opening  salutation,  to  the 
holiness  to  which  Christians  are  called,  and  to  their 
unity  in  Clirist ;  hence,  too,  the  fact  that  in  the  accom- 
panying thanksgiving  for  tokens  of  grace  in  the  Corin- 
thian Church,  it  is  gifts  of  knowledge  and  utterance 
rather  than  graces  of  character  that  are  specially  men- 
tioned. 

(I)  The  tendency  to  sectarian  division  mentioned  in 
I.  12  seems  to  have  been  fostered  by  emissaries  from 
Jerusalem,  who  wished  to  undermine  Paul's  authority, 
and  wrought  upon  the  feelings  and  prejudices  of  the 
Jewish  portion  of  the  Church  (ix.  I-S  ;  2  Cor.)  The 
visit  of  Apollos,  a  learned  and  eloquent  Jew  of  Alex- 
andria, after  Paul's  departure  (Acts  xviii.  27-28),  had 
tended  in  the  same  direction,  by  leading  to  an  invidious 
comparison  between  his  philosophical  and  rhetorical  style 
<rf  preaching  and  the  more  simple  method  of  Paul,  al- 
though the  latter  continued  to  regard  hxm  as  a  valuable 


I  CORINTHIANS  63 

coadjutor  (xvi.  1 2).  But  there  were  some — probably  the 
Judaising  party — who  were  content  neither  with  the 
teaching  of  Paul  nor  of  Apollos,  but  were  disposed 
to  range  themselves  under  the  name  and  authority  of 
Cephas^  as  the  leader  of  the  twelve  apostles  and  an 
observer  of  the  Law.  Others  professed  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  human  teachers,  and  claimed  a  more  direct 
connection  with  Christy  probably  through  their  personal 
acquaintance  with  **  the  brethren  of  the  Lord"  (ix.  5),  or 
their  national  and  historical  affinity  with  Christ.  In 
opposition  to  all  these  divisive  courses,  the  apostle  insists 
on  the  supremacy  of  Christ  as  the  one  Lord  and  Saviour. 
He  introduces  His  name  more  frequently  in  this  epistle 
than  in  any  other  of  his  writings  (nine  times,  for  example, 
in  the  first  nine  verses),  and  represents  himself  and 
other  apostles  as  being  not  the  heads  of  different  schools, 
but  simply  the  ministers  of  Christ,  by  whom  their  con 
verts  were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus. 

(2)  With  regard  to  the  immorality  invading  the  Church, 
the  apostle  begins  by  referring  to  a  terrible  scandal — the 
marriage  bya  Christian  of  his  stepmother  during  his  father's 
lifetime  (v.  1-5,  cf.  2  Cor.  vii.  12).  In  the  exercise  of 
his  apostolic  authority  he  pronounces  a  stem  sentence  on 
the  offender,  and  urges  the  necessity  for  an  uncompro- 
mising opposition  to  all  such  sin,  and  separation  from 
those  guilty  of  it,  if  they  be  members  of  the  Church  (chap. 
T. )  In  the  next  chapter,  after  deprecating  the  bringing  of 
legal  actions  by  Christians  against  one  another  in  the 
heathm  courts,  he  rebukes  the  Antinomian  tendencies 
among  them,  and  lays  down  the  fundamental  principles 
on  which  the  Christian  law  of  purity  must  rest. 

The  apostle  then  proceedstoanswer  the  inquiries  of  his 
converts  on  the  subject  of  marriage  and  celibacy y  dis- 
tinguishing between  his  ovni  personal  views  and  the  ex- 
pressed will  of  Christ  (vii.)  In  viii.-x.  he  deals  with  what 
was  to  his  readers  a  subject  of  vast  importance — the  duty 
of  Christians  with  reference  to  \x\t  feasts  that  were  held  in 
the  idol  temples,  and  more  particularly  with  regard  to  the 


64      NEW  TESTAMENT  dr*  ITS   WRITERS 

use  of  ^t  flesh  of  animals  offered  in  sacrifice^  which  was 
almost  the  only  kind  of  animal  food  that  could  be  bought 
in  the  market.  This  question  he  bids  them  consider  not 
in  the  abstract,  but  as  it  bears  on  the  interests  of  Christian 
society,  and  as  it  is  likely  to  affect  not  only  their  own 
character  but  the  character  and  feelings  of  their  fellow- 
Christians.  In  this  connection  he  cites  his  own  example 
of  self-denial  even  in  things  lawful.  In  xi.-xiv.  he  lays 
down  directions  for  the  guidance  of  his  converts  ir 
matters  of  public  worships  —  dealing  with  such  ques 
tions  as  the  wearing  of  a  covering  on  the  head  in  the 
public  services,  the  duty  of  a  modest  reticence  on  the 
part  of  the  female  members  of  the  congregation,  the 
necessity  for  sobriety  and  decorum  in  the  celebration  o? 
the  Lord's  Supper,  the  harmony  and  common  end  of  th< 
various  gifts  conferred  by  the  Spirit  (of  which  he  enum 
erates  no  less  than  nine),  the  superiority  of  love  to  al 
such  gifts,  the  relative  value  and  importance  of  thi 
several  gifts,  the  propriety  of  making  the  religious  service; 
intelligible  to  all,  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  join  b 
the  loud  Amen  as  the  token  of  their  fellowship.  H 
sums  up  his  teaching  on  public  worship  in  the  tw 
cardinal  principles,  *•  let  all  things  be  done  unto  edifj 
ing,"  *•  let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order 
\xiv.  26,  40).  The  15th  chapter  contains  a  dissertatio 
of  incomparable  value  on  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead- 
a  doctrine  which  some  of  the  Corinthians  had  begun  - 
call  in  question,  partly  in  a  spirit  of  worldly-mindedness, 
and  partly  as  the  result  of  a  sceptical  philosophy.  In 
verses  4-8  we  have  a  summary  of  evidences  for  the  his- 
torical reality  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  delivered  within 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  after  His  death,  while  most 
of  the  witnesses  were  still  alive.  In  the  i6th  or  closing 
chapter  we  find  a  number  of  directions  and  intimations 
having  reference,  among  other  things,  to  the  collection 
for  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  (which  the  apostle  hoped 
to  find  ready  on  his  next  visit  to  Corinth), — after  which 
the  epistle  concludes  with  the  usual  kind  messages  and 
•ntogmph  greeting  from  the  apostle. 


t  CORINTHIANS  65 


CHAPTER    XI 

SECOND    EPISTLE   OF   PAUL  THE    APOSTLE 
TO    THE    CORINTHIANS'* 

^l/HO  wrote  it.— The  Pauline  authorship  of  this 
* '^  epistle  is  involved  in  that  of  I  Cor.  There  is  in 
several  points  such  a  subtle  harmony  between  them  as 
can  only  be  accounted  for  by  their  common  authorship  ; 
and  the  impression  that  both  are  genuine  writings  of 
Paul  is  confirmed  by  an  examination  of  relative  passages 
in  the  Book  of  Acts.  * 

That  the  author  did  not  derive  his  information  from 
the  Book  of  Acts  may  be  inferred  from  the  circumstance 

1  The  troth  of  thus  statement  will  be  manifest  to  any  one  who  will 
take  the  trouble  to  compare  carefully  the  following  corresponding 
passages  with  the  assistance  of  Paley's  Horte  Paulina  (iv.)  : — 

I  Cor.  xvL  5 ;  2  Cor.  vii.  4.7 ;  ix.  2-4  (regarding    Paul's  visit   to  Mace- 
donia). 
I  Cor.  ▼.  1-5 ;  a  Cor.  iL  7,  8 ;  vii.  (regarding     the     scaodaloos     of- 

7-12  fence). 

I  Cor.  xvi.   I,  9 ;  a  Cor.  viiL   10,  (regardmg    the    money   promised 

II ;  ix.  2-7  but  not  collected). 

Acts  xix.  23- XX.  1 ;  a  Cor.  I.  3-10  (regarding    the  trouble  which  be- 
fell Paul  in  Asia). 
<  Cor.  i.  15, 16  ;  L  23-ii.  9  ;  1  Cor.  (regarding    his   change    of    route 
xvi.   5-7 ;  iv.  17,    i8 ;   Acts  xix.       previous  to  writing  1  Or.,  and 
2 J,  22  a\s.  motive  for  it). 

AcU  xviiL  1-5  ;  a  Cor.  L  19 ;  xL  9  (regarding    Silas    and   Timothy's 
coming  to  him  from  Macedonia). 
Acts  XX.  6,  7;  a  Cor.  iL  la,  13       (regarding    the    door    opened    to 

him  at  Troas). 
a  Cor.  s.  i4-rf ;  Acta  xviiL  i-il     (regarding  the  limita  of  bi*  mis 
sionary  travel*). 


66       NEW  TESTAMENT  <5r*  ITS   WRITERS 

that  the  name  of  Titus,  which  is  prominent  in  the 
epistle,  is  not  once  mentioned  in  Acts.  The  same  con- 
clusion may  be  drawn  from  a  comparison  of  xi  32  and 
Acts  ix-  23-25,  as  well  as  from  the  fact  that  xi.  24-25 
has  nothing  corresponding  to  it  in  the  Book  of  Acts, 
though  at  the  same  time  there  is  nothing  inconsistent 
with  it.  With  regard  to  the  apparent  discrepancy  in 
chapter  xiii.  see  page  67. 

Apart  from  the  minute  correspondences  above  referred 
to,  there  is  a  living  interest  and  an  air  of  reality  about 
the  epistle  which  is  scarcely  ever  met  with  in  forgeries, 
especially  of  that  early  period. 

With  regard  to  external  evidence  a  few  echoes  of 
expressions  occurring  in  the  epistle  are  to  be  found  in 
the  fragmentary  writings  that  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  beginning  of  the  second  century.  By  the  end 
of  that  century  the  quotations  from  the  epistle  in  the 
writings  of  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  etc,  are  explicit  and 
unmistakable. 

The  amanuensis  in  this  case  was  probably  Timothy, 
as  he  is  associated  with  the  apostle  in  the  opening  verse. 

To  whom  written, — '*  Unto  the  church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth,  with  all  the  saints  which  are  in  the 
whole  of  Achaia."     See  page  59. 

Where  and  when  written. — It  was  evidently 
written  a  few  months  after  i  Cor.,  say  in  the  summer  of 
57  or  58  A.D.,  from  some  town  in  Macedonia,  probably 
Thessalonica.1 

In  the  interval  the  apostle  had  left  Ephesus  (L  8-10), 
after  his  narrow  escape  from  the  violence  of  the  crowd 
and  had  proceeded  to  Troas,  where  he  anxiously  ex- 
pected the  arrival  of  Titus.  The  latter  had  been  sent 
to  Corinth,  either  with  the  first  epistle  or  shortly  after  its 
dispatch,  to  enforce  the  apostle's  views  and  to  bring 
him  back  word  of  the  effect  produced  by  his  epistle  at 

1  "  From  Philippi"  according  to  note  at  end  of  epistle  in  A.V. 
But  this  is  not  so  probable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  apostle  seems 
to  have  ah-eady  visited  the  Churches  of  Macedonia  (viii.  1-4),  in 
the  course  of  which  Philippi  would  naturally  come  first,  to  OM 
tnvsUiug  southward. 


a  CORINTHIANS 


thiit  momentous  crisis  in  the  history  of  his  meet  in- 
fluential Church  (viiL  6 ;  xiL  l8  ;  i  Cor.  xvi.  12). 

In  his  disappointment  at  not  finding  Titus,  he  had  no 
heart  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  preaching  at  Troas, 
and  had  proceeded  to  Macedonia  (ii.  12-13),  where 
Titus  at  length  joined  him  (viL  5-6).  It  was  after 
getting  Titus'  report,  bringing  him  great  reluj  of  mind 
in  the  midst  of  his  severe  trials  and  heavy  responsi 
bilities  (vii.  4-16;  xL  28),  that  he  appears  to  have 
written  this  epistle, — which  he  sent  by  the  hands  of 
Titus  and  "  the  brother  whose  praise  in  the  gospel  is 
spread  through  all  the  churches"  (viii.  6,  16-18). 

A  difificulty  has  been  raised  about  the  expression  in 
xiiL  I,  "This  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to  you." 
Some  think  the  apostle  had  paid  a  second  visit  to 
Corinth,  from  Ephesus,  prior  to  the  writing  of  his  first 
epistle.  But  another  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the 
importance  attaching  to  the  visit  he  had  intended  to  pay 
on  his  way  to  Macedonia  (L  15).  The  confidence  of 
the  Corinthians  in  him  had  been  shaken  by  the  dis- 
appointment he  had  caused  them  ;  and  he  wished  to 
impress  upon  them  the  reality  of  his  intention,  although 
he  had  been  unable  to  fulfil  it.  No  doubt  he  would  have 
been  more  strictly  accurate  if  he  had  expressed  himself 
as  in  xiL  14,  "Behold,  this  is  the  third  time  I  am 
ready  to  come  to  you-** 

Its  Cliaracter  and  Contents.— If  i  Cor.  may  be 

said  to  be  our  great  instructor  regarding  the  inner  hfe 
of  the  Churchy  the  second  epistle  is  our  chief  source 
of  information  regarding  the  personality  of  the  apostle 
himself.  It  is  an  outpouring  of  personal  feeling  almost 
from  beginning  to  end,  expressing  itself  in  many  dif- 
ferent moods  and  with  a  great  variety  of  style.  It  is 
well  described  by  Erasmus  when  he  says  that  "  at  one 
time  the  apostle  wells  up  gently  like  some  limpid  spring, 
and  by  and  by  thunders  down  like  a  torrent  with  a 
mighty  crash,  carrying  everything  before  it ;  now  he 
flows  placidly  and  smoothly,  now  spreads  out  Car  and 
wide,  as  if  expanding  into  a  lake,  then  disappears,  and 


58       NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS    WRITERS 

suddenly  reappears  in  a  different  place."  But  although 
the  least  systematic  of  Paul's  writings,  it  contains  many 
passages  of  priceless  worthy  for  the  comfort  and  edifica- 
tion of  the  Church. 

The  apostle  had  learned  from  Titus  that  his  first  letter 
had  served  its  purpose  and  that  the  interests  of  Church 
discipline  had  been  secured.  But  the  same  messengei 
had  informed  him  that/r^jA  cause  for  anxiety  had  arisen 
in  the  rapid  growth  of  a  party  hostile  to  his  influence, 
who  were  seeking  to  trade  upon  the  disaffection  which 
had  been  caused  among  his  converts  by  his  failure  to 
visit  them  according  to  promise  (i.  16-17). 

Traces  of  such  opposition  are  discernible  even  in  the 
first  epistle  (i  Cor.  i.  12 ;  ix.  1-6) ;  but  it  had  been  greatly 
stimulated  by  the  intrigues  and  false  pretensions  of  rival 
teachers  from  Jerusalem,  who  had  brought  letters  of 
commendation  with  them,  and  were  using  Peter's  name, 
and  even  that  of  Christ,  for  party  purposes  (ii.  17  ;  iii. 
i-a;  ▼.  12;  X.  7-12,  18;  xi.  3-5,  12-15,  22-23). 

To  defeat  the  efforts  of  these  Judaising  teachers 
sind  to  refute  the  charges  and  insinuations  which  they 
were  bringing  against  him  was  the  main  object  of  this 
epistle.  By  doing  so  the  apostle  hoped  to  obviate 
the  necessity  for  any  sharp  dealing  after  he  arrived  at 
Corinth  (xiL  20-21  ;  xiii.  10). 

In  L-viL  Paul  seeks  to  conciliate  the  affection  of  his 
converts  by  giving  them  an  account  of  his  sufferings  and 
of  the  anxiety  he  had  felt  on  their  behalf.  He  explains 
that  his  delay  in  visiting  them  had  not  been  owing  to 
any  fickleness  of  purpose  on  his  part,  but  to  a  desire  for 
the  restoration  of  peace  and  purity  before  he  came 
among  them.  He  gives  a  frank  exposition  of  his  views 
and  feelings,  his  trials  and  supports,  as  a  minister  of 
Christ,  making  glad  and  thankful  acknowledgment  of 
the  kind  reception  they  had  given  to  his  deputy,  and  of 
the  full  amends  they  had  made  in  the  important  case  of 
Church  discipline  about  which  he  had  written  to  them. 
In  viiL-ix.  he  exhorts  them  to  a  prompt  and  liberal 
fulfilmttU  flf  their  promise  to  contribute  £v  the  relief  of 


'J  CORINTHIANS 


the  needy  brethren  at  Jerusalem, — a  promise  of  which 
he  had  boasted  to  the  churches  at  Macedonia  in  order 
to  stimulate  their  generosity.  In  this  connection 
he  sets  forth  more  fully  than  anywhere  else  in  hii 
writings  the  motives  and  dispositions  which  should 
actuate  Christians  in  the  discharge  of  this  duty  o< 
pecuniary  liberality. 

At  this  point  there  is  a  sudden  change  in  the  apostle's 
tone;  and  the  remainder  of  the  epistle  (x.-xiiL)  is  de* 
voted  to  a  vindication  of  his  character  cu  an  apostle.  He 
enumerates  his  many  claims  to  the  respect  and  obedi- 
ence of  his  converts,  and  closes  with  an  impressive 
salutation,  followed  by  the  form  of  Benediction  which 
has  now  become  so  general  in  the  Church  :  **  The  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  alL" 

That  the  epistle  succeeded  in  regaining,  or  rather  in 
retaining,  for  the  apostle  the  general  confidence  of  his 
Corinthian  converts,  may  be  inferred  from  the  venera 
tion  in  which  his  memory  was  held  amongst  them  a  few 
years  after  his  death.  Of  this  veneration  we  find  un- 
mistakable tokens  in  the  epistle  of  Clement  to  the 
CorinthiaM,  written  towards  the  doac  of  the  fint 
oeDtiuy. 


JO       NE  W  TESTAMENT  <&•  ITS   WRITERS 


CHAPTER  Xn 

••tot   epistle  of   PAUL  TO  THE  GALATIANB* 

\^H0  wrote  it. — This  is  another  epistle  wbow 
'  •  genuineness  is  scarcely  disputed.  Its  main  topic 
— the  relation  of  Christians  to  the  ceremonial  law  of  the 
Jews — would  lead  us  to  fix  its  composition  at  a  period 
anterior  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  when  the  question 
was  practically  set  at  rest. 

Its  character  and  style  are  inconsistent  with  the  idea  0J 
forgery,  (i)  The  picture  which  it  gives  of  the  state  of 
the  Galatian  Church  is  too  lifelike,  and  the  play  of 
feeling  it  exhibits  on  the  part  of  the  apostle  is  too  subtle 
for  the  inventive  power  of  an  age  so  little  skilled  in  that 
kind  of  fiction.  (2)  Its  representation  of  facts,  as  regards 
the  relations  of  Paul  with  the  other  apostles,  is  too 
candid  to  have  been  got  up  in  the  interests  of  Church 
unity,  and  on  the  other  hand  is  too  moderate  in  its  tone 
to  have  been  firamed  in  the  interests  of  any  known  party 
in  the  Church.  (3)  A  comparison  of  the  personal  and 
historical  allusions  in  the  epistle  with  statements  in  the 
Book  of  Acts  and  some  of  the  other  epistles  ascribed  to 
Paul,  shows  a  substantial  harmony,  along  with  an  occa- 
sional diversity  that  betokens  independence — the  epistle 
furnishing  details  of  many  incidents  in  Paul's  life  that 
are  only  mentioned  in  a  general  way  by  the  author  of 
the  Book  of  Acts.^     (4)  There  is  in  several  respects  a 

1  For  proofs  of  independence,  cf.  L  15-18,  Acts  ix.  19-26 ;  iL  i-m^ 
AcU  KT.  i-ai ;  iL  zx-i4  (which  has  noUiins;  corresponding  to  U  in 


GALATIANS  7» 


strong  resemblance  between  this  epistle  and  those  to  the 
Corinthians  and  the  Romans  (see  p.  74). 

With  regard  to  external  evidence  there  are  the  usual 
echoes  and  reflections  in  the  Apostolic  Fathers  and  the 
apologetic  writers  of  the  first  two  centuries  ;  while  many 
direct  quotations  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  about  the  end  of  the  second  century.  The 
epistle  is  also  included  in  the  Canons  and  Versions  of  the 
second  century. 

To  whom  written. —  "Unto  the  churches  of 
Galatia."  In  the  time  of  the  apostle,  Galatia  might 
either  be  understood  to  refer  to  the  recently  created 
Roman  province  of  that  name  in  Asia  Minor,  or  be 
used  in  the  older  and  more  popular  sense,  to  desig- 
nate a  broad  strip  of  country  in  that  province,  about 
two  hundred  miles  long,  running  from  south-west  to 
north-east.  It  is  m  this  latter  sense  that  the  ter« 
**  Galatia "  is  usually  understood  here,  in  accordance 
with  the  usage  in  the  Book  of  Acts.  *  It  was  inhabited 
by  a  mixed  race  of  Phrygians,  Greeks,  Celts,  Romans, 
and  Jews,  who  had  successively  obtained  a  footing  in  it 
l^  different  means  and  with  varying  degrees  of  success. 
Of  these  elements  of  the  population  it  was  the  Celtic 
invaders  from  Western  Europe  that  had  made  their 
influence  most  strongly  felt.  They  found  their  way  into 
the  country  in  the  third  century  B.C. ;  and  after  them 
and  the  Greek  immigrants  who  were  there  before  them 
the  country  was  called  Gallo-Graecia,  So  deep  and 
lasting  was  their  influence,  that  even  in  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century  A.D.  Jerome  was  able  to  trace  a  strong 
resemblance  between  the  language  of  Galatia  and  that 
spoken  on  the  banks  of  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine  ;  and 
modem  travellers  have  been  struck  with  the  fair  hair 
and  blue  eyes  that  mark  an  affinity  between  the  pastoral 
tribes  of  Galatia  and  the  peasantry  of  Western  France. 

Acts,  although  corroborated  in  some  of  its  circumstances  by  zL  3^ 
•6;  xiv.  26,  XV.  i^i^,  xxi.  18-25).  For  fulness  of  detail  in  this 
epistle  see  il  :  L  Z7-X9,  Acts  ix.  25-28,  xxiL  18  ;  vi.  13-141  cf 
s  Cor.  xiL  7-9 ;  TU  I,  cf.  a  Cor.  iL  6-8 ;  vi.  is,  cf.  Rom.  stvL  «^ 
•  Tlwss.  uL  17. 


Sm  Note  A,  p.  y«. 


ji       NEW  TESTAMENT  &-  ITS    WRITERS 

Confining  ourselves  to  the  Scriptural  evidence  on  th« 
subject,  we  jcan  see  how  the  enthusiasm^  as  well  as  the 
fickleness  and  love  of  novelty,  which  have  been  char- 
acteristic of  the  Gauls  both  in  Europe  and  Asia,  left 
their  mark  on  the  early  history  of  the  Galatian  Church 
(i.  6  ;  iiu  1-3  ;  iv.  13-16  ;  v.  7).  We  may  also  discern 
traces  of  the  superstition^  drunkenness,  avarice,  vanity, 
irascibility,  and  strife  that  sometimes  impair  the 
charm  of  the  Celtic  character  (v.  15,  21,  26;  vi  3, 
4.  6). 

The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Galatia  by  Paul  seems 
to  have  been  due  to  his  detention  in  that  country  on  hia 
way  to  the  more  promising  field  of  proconsular  Asia, 
caused  by  an  attack  of  the  painful  and  humiliating 
malady  to  which  he  was  liable — probably  an  aggravated 
form  of  ophthalmia  (iv.  1 3- 1 6,  c£  2  Cor.  xii.  7- 10). 
This  visit  to  Galatia,  which  took  place  in  the  course  of 
his  second  missionary  journey,  about  51  A.D.,  is  alluded 
to  in  the  Book  of  Acts  in  the  most  general  terms  (xvi.  6); 
but  from  some  passages  in  this  epistle  already  quoted,  it 
would  appear  that  his  faithful  and  energetic  preaching  of 
Christ  crucified  (iii.  i,  2)  had  excited  great  enthusiasm  and 
affection.  A  second  visit  to  Galatia  is  recorded  in  Acts 
xviii.  22,  23,  during  the  apostle's  third  missionary  journey, 
about  54  A.D.,  when  he  "went  through  the  region  of 
Galatia  and  Phrygia  in  order,  stablishing  all  the  dis- 
ciples."  From  this  language  we  may  infer  that  not  a 
few  congregations  had  been  formed  in  the  district ;  but 
it  would  seem  that  their  feelings  towards  the  apostle 
and  his  Gospel  had  in  the  meantime  undergone  a 
change,  and  that  he  had,  on  this  second  occasion,  to 
speak  to  them  iv  tones  of  warning  (L  9;  t.  31  ; 
iv.   i6-20). 

The  only  other  intercourse  between  Paul  and  the 
Galatian  Church,  of  which  we  have  any  record  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  that  mentioned  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  1-6, 
concerning  the  collection  for  the  poor  of  the  Church  at 
Jerusalem.  From  this  passage  it  appears  that  the 
apoetle   had   held   communication    with   Galatia    some 


eALATiANS  73 


jeare  ailer  his  second  visit — possibly  while  he  was  at 
Ephesus  ;  and  in  this  way  the  news  may  hare  reached 
him  of  his  converts'  lapse  from  the  truth. 

Their  falling  away  had  evidently  been  connected  with 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Judaising  teachers  to  take 
advantage  of  the  ritualistic  tendencies  which,  as  Caesar 
tells  us,  were  characteristic  of  the  Gauls,  and  which  had 
been  fostered  by  the  worship  of  the  Phrygian  Cybele, 
with  its  "wild  ceremonial  and  hideous  mutilations " — 
the  object  of  these  teachers  being  to  persuade  to  an 
observance  of  the  ceremonial  law  of  Moses  (iii.  1-3  ;  iv. 
10,  II,  21  ;  V.  2-4,  7,  13;  vL  12,  13). 

Although  the  Galatian  Christians  were  mainly  con- 
verts from  heathenism  (iv.  8  ;  v.  2  ;  vi  12),  some  of  them 
had  doubtless  been  coimected  with  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogues, either  as  members  or  as  proselytes.  Numerous 
Jews  had  been  attracted  to  the  cities  of  Galatia  by  the 
commercial  advantages  which  these  afforded ;  and  <A 
their  privileges,  Josephus  tells  us,  a  monumental  record 
existed  in  the  temple  of  Augustus  at  Ancyra,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  district.  The  existence  of  this 
Jewish  element  in  the  Church  explains  the  frequent 
allusions  to  the  Old  Testament  and  the  influence  gained 
over  the  impressible  and  impulsive  Galatians  by  the 
Judaising  Christians  of  Jerusalem,  who  were  <'realous 
of  the  law,"  and  desired  to  make  the  Gospel  tributary 
to  the  synagogue  and  the  temple  (i.  7).  They  had 
taken  advantage  of  Paul's  absence  to  undermine  his 
character  as  an  apostle,  and  had  endeavoured  only  too 
successfully  to  cause  a  reaction,  in  the  minds  of  the 
superstitious  Galatians,  from  the  simplicity  and  spiritual- 
ity of  the  Gospel.  It  was  an  attempt  to  recover  the 
ground  which  they  had  lost  at  Antioch  and  elsewhere 
(u.  4,  5,  II,  14;  Acts  XV.  1,  23-29). 

Wliere  and  when  written. — From  what  has  been 
already  said  as  to  the  allusions  in  this  epistle  to  the 
apostle's  second  visit  to  Galatia,  we  may  infer  that  iti 
composition  was  subsequent  to  54  A.D.,  the  date  of  the 
visit  referred  to.      The  expression  "so  woaa"  (i.  6^ 


U      ^B  W  TESTAMENT  dr*  ITS    WRITERS 

R.V.  **  so  quickly ")  has  been  thought  to  imply 
that  the  epistle  must  have  been  written  very  shortly 
afterwards.  But  it  is  their  calUngy  or  conversion,  that 
the  apostle  had  in  view,  and  the  language  would  be 
equally  appropriate  whether  an  interval  of  five  or  of  ten 
years  had  elapsed. 

A  comparison  of  this  epistle  with  2  Cor.  and  Rom. 
brings  out  its  striking  resemblance  to  both  of  these — 
to  the  former  in  the  writer's  tone  of  feeling  regarding 
his  apostleship  and  the  attacks  made  upon  him ;  to 
the  latter,  in  language,  reasoning,  and  general  cast  ci 
doctrine.  It  was  manifestly  written  previous  to  Romans^ 
being  to  it  as  **  the  rough  model  to  the  finished  statue  ** ; 
and  it  appears  also  to  have  been  written  when  the 
tension  of  the  apostle's  feelings  was  less  severe  than 
when  he  wrote  2  Cor.  With  great  probability,  therefore, 
we  may  place  its  composition  in  the  period  of  transition 
between  these  two  epistles  towards  the  close  of  the 
year  57  A.D.  It  may  have  been  written  on  the  apostle's 
journey  from  Macedonia  to  Achaia  (Acts  xx.  2),  for 
the  expression  "  all  the  brethren  which  are  with  me " 
(i.  2)  would  be  more  likely  to  be  used  by  the  apostle 
while  he  was  the  centre  of  a  travelling  party,  than  if  he 
had  been  residing  at  the  seat  of  a  congregation. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — From  first  to  last 
the  epistle  is  marked  by  a  conspicuous  unity  of  purpose 
— its  main  object  being  to  counteract  the  Judai sing  process 
that  had  been  going  on  for  some  time  in  the  Galatian 
Church.  An  important  factor  in  that  process  had  been 
the  denial  of  Paul's  apostolic  authority  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  never  seen  the  Lord,  and  that  he  owed  his 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel  to  the  apostles  who  had  their 
headquarters  at  Jerusalem-  On  the  question  of  circum- 
cision and  the  observance  of  the  law  it  was  allied  that 
he  was  particularly  to  be  distrusted,  as  a  renegade  from 
the  religion  of  his  fathers. 

Without  a  word  of  his  usual  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
the  apostle  begins  with  a  bold  assertion  of  his  apostolic 
office  as  directly  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Lord.     This 


GALATIANS  7S 


is  followed  by  an  account  of  his  intercourse  and  relations 
with  the  other  apostles  after  his  conversion,  showing 
that  he  owed  his  conception  of  the  Gospel  not  to  them, 
but  to  influence  exerted  on  him  from  above  (e.g.  in  the 
solitudes  of  Arabia,  L  17).  His  ministry  had  been 
Acknowledged  by  the  reputed  pillars  of  the  Church 
(James  and  Cephas  and  John)  as  having  the  same 
Divine  sanction  for  the'  Gentiles,  as  their  preaching  had 
for  the  Jews.  Since  that  time  he  had  consistently 
maintained  the  freedom  of  his  converts  from  the  bondage 
of  the  Law,  having  even  gone  so  far  on  one  occasion  as 
to  rebuke  Peter  for  his  dissimulation,  when  he  would 
have  withdravm  from  fellowship  with  the  Gentile 
Christians  at  Antioch  (i.  18 -ii.) 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  personal  aspect  of  the 
question,  he  passes  to  its  more  doctrinal  asput  by  appeal- 
ing to  Uie  spiritual  blessing  which  the  Galatians  had 
experienced  under  his  ministry  when  he  preached  the 
Gospel  to  them  without  any  mixture  of  Jewish  rituaL 
He  proves  that  the  Law  has  been  superseded  by  the 
Gospel,  the  latter  being  the  full  assertion  of  that  principle 
of  faith  that  had  always  lain  at  the  foundation  of  men's 
acceptance  with  God,  even  in  the  time  of  Abraham. 
He  shows  that  the  Law  given  by  Moses  could  only  create 
a  sense  of  sin  without  providing  a  remedy.  It  was  but 
a  temporary  means  of  training  God's  people  for  the 
enjoyment  of  their  privileges  as  His  children — standing 
in  the  same  relation  to  the  Gospel,  as  the  children  of 
Hagar  the  bondwoman  did  to  Isaac  the  child  of  promise 
(iii.-iv.)  In  v.-vi.  the  apostle  warns  them  against  the 
abuse  of  their  spiritual  freedom,  setting  before  them  the 
true  principles  of  Christian  morality,  and  exhorting  them 
to  several  duties  of  which  they  had  need  to  be  reminded. 
He  concludes  with  a  postscript  in  his  own  handwriting 
(▼L  1 1- 1 8),  in  which  he  sums  up  the  argument  with  an 
emphasis  and  decision  that  contrast  strongly  with  the 
hesitation  apparent  in  some  of  the  earlier  passages, 
where  he  b  trying  to  vindicate  his  conduct  without 
casting  any  unnecessary  reflections  on  the  other  apostles. 


76      NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS   WRITERS 

He  exposes  the  unworthy  motives  of  his  opponents, 
reaffirms  the  supreme  importance  of  the  Cross  of  Christ 
and  of  regeneration  in  Him  as  essential  to  the  true 
Israel  of  Gk>d,  and  appeals  to  the  marks  which  he  bears 
of  recent  persecution,  as  the  seal  of  his  apostleship  and 
the  token  of  his  renewed  devotion  to  the  Saviour. 
••From  henceforth  let  no  man  trouble  me,  for  I  bear 
branded  on  my  body  the  marks  of  Jesus."  ^  Finally 
he  invokes  the  Divine  blessing  on  his  converts  in  terms 
specially  fitted  to  lift  them  above  the  thought  of  carnal 
ordinances — ••The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be 
with  your  spirit,  brethren." 

The  whole  epistle  is  marked  by  a  force  and  vehemence 
that  strain  the  apostle's  power  of  expression  to  the 
utmost.  It  has  done  more  than  any  other  book  of  the 
New  Testament  for  the  emancipation  of  Christians, 
not  only  from  the  yoke  of  Judaism,  but  from  every 
other  form  of  extemalism  that  has  ever  threatened  the 
freedom  and  spirituality  of  the  GospeL  It  was  Luther's 
favourite  epistle,  to  which  he  was  ••wedded,"  as  he 
said ;  and  from  it  he  largely  drew  his  inspiration  in  his 
conflict  with  the  Church  of  Rome. 

1  With  this  we  may  connect  the  fact  that  in  the  rery  next  epistle 
which  he  writes  Paul  styles  himself  "  the  bondservant  of  Jesos 
Christ "  (Rom.  i.  i,  R.V.  margin),  being  the  first  time,  so  fkr  as  we 
know,  that  he  ever  so  designated  himself. 

NoTK  A- — While  the  majority  of  scholars  have  hitherto  agreed  in 
civing  to  Galatia  the  narrower  mterpretation  that  is  assumed  in  the 
foregoing  chapter,  there  are  an  increasing  number  who  hold  that  the 
name  is  to  be  taken  in  iu  wider  meaning  as  a  designation  for  the 
Roman  province,  which  included  several  other  districts  besides  that 
of  the  Asiatic  Celts.  Recently  a  careful  and  elaborate  argument  in 
favour  of  this  view  has  been  advanced  by  Professor  W.  M.  Ramsay, 
who  brings  to  the  discussion  of  the  question  a  rare  knowledge  of  the 
archaeology  and  topography  of  Asia  Minor.  He  maintains  that  the 
Churches  to  which  the  Epistle  was  addressed  were  no  other  than 
those  of  Antioch,  Iconium,  Lystra,  and  Derbe,  which  were  planted 
by  Paul  in  his  first  missionary  journey,  and  of  which  we  have  an 
account  in  Acts  xiii.  xiv.  For  an  analysis  of  Professor  Ramsay's 
argumenu  see  the  demy  8vo  edition  of  this  book,  pp.  X3&-i4X,  «r 
Guild  Library  voL,  pp.  89-^ 


ROMANS 


CHAPTER   XIII 

«*TH«   CPISTLB  OF   PAUL  THE   APOSTLI  TO  THE 
ROMANS  " 

WHO  "WTOtO  it. — The  Pauline  authorship  of  this 
epistle  is  universally  admitted.  It  has  a  fair  amount 
of  external  evidence  in  its  favour ;  but  its  strong  resem- 
blance to  Galatians  is  enough  to  prove  its  common 
authorship  with  that  epistle.  Moreover,  a  comparison 
of  its  contents  with  other  Pauline  epistles  and  with  the 
Book  of  Acts  affords  valuable  confirmation  of  its  genuine- 
ness and  authenticity.^ 

From  xvL  22  we  learn  that  the  epistle  was  written 
by  Tertius  as  the  apostle's  amanuensis. 

To  whom  written. — "To  all  that  are  in  Rome, 
beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints.**     These  words  and 

1  Besides  the  remarkable  coincidences  with  regard  to  the  time  and 
place  of  its  composition,  p.  79,  the  following  points  are  worthy  of 
notice.  (1)  The  statement  of  the  apostle's  long-felt  desire  to  visit 
Rome,  and  of  his  hope  of  now  doing  so  after  fulfilling  his  mission  to 
Jerusalem,  is  in  harmony  with  the  purpose  he  expressed  at  Ephesus 
some  time  before,  i.  13 ;  xv.  22-25  ;  Acts  xix.  21.  (2)  The  request 
which  the  apostle  makes  to  the  Christians  at  Rome  that  they  would 
onite  with  him  in  prayer  that  he  "  may  be  delivered  from  them  that 
are  disobedient  in  Judaea,"  corresponds  with  the  later  expression  of 
his  feelings  as  he  was  approaching  Jerusalem  (xv.  30,  31 ;  Acts  xx.  22, 
*3-  (3)  The  apostle's  teaching  in  this  epistle  and  in  Galatians  is  in 
striking  harmony  with  hb  mission  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  goes  far  to  explain  the  accusation  brought  against  him  on  his 
last  recorded  visit  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xxL  19)1  (4)  The  nature  of 
the  visit  to  Rome  contemplated  by  the  apostle  when  he  wrote  this 
epistle,  namely  "  that  I  may  come  unto  you  in  joy  through  the  will 
of  God,  and  together  with  you  find  rest  "  (xv.  32)  is  so  very  different 
from  what  he  actually  experienced,  when  he  was  carried  a  prisoner 
to  Rome,  that  it  could  not  have  been  so  described  bjr  any  one  w^ 
dfew  his  iafipcaotioo  from  tb«  Book  of  Act^ 


78       NBIV  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

the  absence  of  any  mention  of  bishops  and  deacons  either 
in  this  epistle  or  in  the  account  of  the  welcome  which 
Paul  received  from  the  Roman  brethren  three  years  after- 
wards (Acts  xxviii.  15)  would  seem  to  indicate  that  there 
was  no  formally  organised  Church  in  the  city,  but  merely 
groups  of  believers  meeting  for  worship  in  private  houses 
(xvi.  5).  They  seem  to  have  been  mainly  of  Gentil* 
origin  (i.  5,  6,  13-15;  xi.  13-24;  xy.  15,  16).  But 
the  whole  tenor  of  the  epistle,  abounding  as  it  does  in 
quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  and  in  allusions  to 
the  Jewish  Law,  clearly  shows  that  they  had  been  led  to 
a  knowledge  of  the  truth  through  their  connection  with 
the  Jewish  faith  as  proselytes  of  the  gate  (indeed,  some 
of  them  appear  to  have  been  bom  Jews — ii.  17  ;  xvi.  7 — 
and  hence  the  expression,  *•  I  speak  to  men  that  know 
the  law" — vii.  i).  The  Jews  bad  for  a  long  time  been 
a  numerous  and  powerful  section  of  the  community  at 
Rome,  and  their  religion  had  gained  great  influence 
among  the  educated  classes.  The  introduction  of 
Christianity  among  them  had  apparently  been  due  not 
to  apostolic  labour  (certainly  not  to  the  labours  of  Peter 
whose  alleged  episcopate  of  twenty-five  years  at  Rome  is 
contrary  to  all  the  evidence  of  the  New  Testament),  but 
to  the  influence  of  Christian  travellers,  especially,  we 
may  believe,  of  the  "  sojourners  from  Rome,  both  Jews 
and  proselytes,"  who  had  witnessed  the  wonderful  works 
of  God  on  the  great  day  of  Pentecost  (Acts  ii.  10).  Al- 
though Paul  had  never  been  at  Rome,  many  of  the 
Christians  there  were  personally  known  to  him — possibly 
owing  to  their  banishment  from  Rome  by  the  Edict  of 
Claudius, — as  we  may  infer  from  the  numerous  greetings 
in  the  closing  chapter.  From  L  7,  8  ;  xv.  14,  it  would 
appear  that  the  condition  of  the  Christians  at  Rome  was 
in  many  respects  satisfactory,  and  in  keeping  with  this 
we  learn  from  Tacitus  that  a  great  multitude  of  Christians 
suflered  martyrdom  there  in  the  reign  of  Nero  a  few 
years  later.  But  the  Apostle's  language  (in  chap,  xiv.) 
would  indicate  the  existence  of  weakness  and  disagree- 
ment among  them,  in  connection  with  certain  scruples 


ROMANS  79 


felt  by  some  of  their  number  with  regard  to  the  eating  <rf 
animal  food  and  the  observance  of  days  and  seasons. 
They  were  also  liable  to  many  serious  temptations,  as  we 
may  infer  from  the  exhortations  in  xii.  -xiii. ;  and  their 
spiritual  life  required  to  be  strengthened  (L  1 1 ). 

Where  and  wlien  written.— From  the  writer's 

circumstances,  as  stated  in  xv.  22-26,  viewed  in  the  light 
of  Acts  XX.  1-3,  xxiv.  17-19;  I  Cor.  xvi.  1-4  ;  2  Cor. 
viii.  1-4,  ix.  I,  2,  we  gather  that  the  epistle  was  written 
towards  the  close  of  Paul's  second  visit  to  Corinth  (early 
in  58  A.D.),  on  the  eve  of  his  journey  to  Jerusalem  to  carry 
up  the  alms  collected  for  the  poor  brethren  there,  after 
which  he  was  to  make  his  long  -  intended  visit  to 
Rome.^ 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — In  an  intellectual 

sense  this  epistle  may  be  said  to  be  the  apostle's  master- 
piece ;  theologically  it  \&  the  most  important  of  all  his 
epistles.      Coleridge    has    pronounced    it    "  the    most 

1  In  remarlcable  hamlony  with  this  inference  as  to  the  datt  of  the 
epistle  are  the  facts  (i)  that  of  those  who  were  with  Paul  previous  to 
his  journey  into  Asia,  as  stated  in  the  Book  of  Acts  (xx.  a),  three, 
namely,  Sosipater,  Gains,  and  Timothy  send  their  salutations 
in  this  e^iistle ;  (2)  that  salutations  are  sent  to  Prisdlla  and 
Aquila  (xvL  3),  who  are  mentioned  as  having  rendered  great  service 
and  incurred  great  danger  on  behalf  of  the  apostle  and  in  the 
interests  of  the  Church  of  the  Gentiles — which  finds  confirmatioo  in 
Acts  xviii.  2-26  ;  i  Cor.  xvi.  ig  ;  (3)  that  the  apostle  speaks  (xv.  19)0! 
having  preached  the  Gospel  '  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  even 
unto  Illyricum" — a  country  adjoining  tht  western  frontier  of  Mace- 
donia,— a  statement  which  could  not  have  c>cen  made  before  the  visit 
recorded  in  Acts  xx.  2,  as  the  previous  visit,  of  which  an  account 
is  given  in  Acts  zvL-zviii.,  was  confined  to  the  eastern  coast  of 
Europe. 

Equally  in  keeping  with  the  inference  as  to  the  plact  of  com- 
position are  the  facts  (i)  that  "  Gains  my  host "  and  "  Erastus  the 
treasiu-er  of  the  city,"  send  their  greetings  (xvL  23),  the  former 
being  mentioned  in  i  Cor.  i.  14  as  one  of  the  very  few  persons  at 
Corinth  whom  the  apostle  had  himself  baptized,  the  latter  in  Acts 
rix.  22  as  a  comp>anion  of  Paul  and  in  2  Tim.  iv.  20  as  left  behind 
at  Corinth ;  (2^  that  Phoebe,  by  whom  the  epistle  was  apparently 
sent  to  Rome,  is  commended  (xvL  1-2)  as  *'  a  servant  of  the  churcn 
that  is  at  Cenchreae,"  this  being  orie  of  the  ports  of  Corinth  which 
had  been  previously  visited  by  Paul  (Acts  xviiL  18). 

In  connection  with  the  mention  of  Phoebe  it  is  interesting  to  ob- 
serve that  even  at  this  early  period  the  Christian  Church  had  tearoed 
to  ^fpreciau  the  value  of  female  energy  and  devotion. 


8o       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS   WRITERS 

profound  work  ever  written."  Calvin  said  of  it  that  "  it 
opened  the  door  to  all  the  treasures  in  the  Scriptures  " ; 
while  Luther  pronounced  it  •'  the  chief  book  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  the  purest  Gospel." 

As  already  mentioned,  it  bears  &  striking  resemblance 
to  Galatians  (written  a  short  time  before  it)  not  only  in 
individual  words  and  phrases,  but  in  the  general  drift  of 
its  teaching  with  regard  to  the  superiority  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  Law.  It  is,  however,  more  dispassionate  in  tone, 
being  less  personal  in  its  character,  and  containing  « 
more  full  and  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  subject. 

It  may  be  said  to  embody  the  results  of  the  recent 
controversy  with  the  Judaisers,  stated  in  a  logical  and 
systematic  form,  and  at  the  same  time  with  such  modera- 
tion and  caution  as  was  fitted  to  disarm  the  prejudices 
and  conciliate  the  favour  of  the  Jewish  element  in  the 
Church.  That  element  had  not  yet  been  infected  with 
the  leaven  of  malignant  bigotry,  emanating  from  Jeru- 
salem, which  had  made  its  influence  felt  in  so  many  of 
the  other  Churches  where  Paul  had  laboured ;  and  the 
epistle  was  intended  to  serve  the  purpose  of  prevention 
rather  than  cure.  It  was  also  intended  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  apostle's  visit  to  the  Church  at  Rome,  whose 
destined  greatness  he  foresaw,  and  by  whose  assistance 
he  hoped  to  obtain  a  still  wider  field  for  his  missionary 
labours. 

Being  addressed  to  the  Christians  of  imperial  Rome, 
this  epistle  is  distinguished  by  its  cosmopolitan  tone, 
which  is  shown  at  the  outset  (i.  4,  5)  by  a  reference  to 
the  "obedience  of  faith"  to  which  '*all  the  nations" 
»re  called  in  "Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  It  sets  forth 
the  universality  of  the  Gospel  as  **the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  ;  to  the  Jew  first, 
and  also  to  the  Greek  "  (i.  16),  and  brings  out  the  contrast 
not  between  Moses  and  Christ,  as  in  Galatians,  but  be- 
tween Adam  and  Christ  as  the  representatives  of  nature 
and  of  grace  (v.  12-21).  With  no  less  propriety,  in 
writing  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  city  that  was  the  seat  of 
justice  for  the  whole  civilised  world,  the  apostle  k>oks  wX 


ROMANS  8i 


the  great  question  of  salvation  from  »,  Judicial  ox  forensic 
point  of  view, — exhibiting  the  bearing  of  the  Gospel  on 
the  interests  of  law  and  righteousness,  proving  the  guilt 
of  all  men,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  at  the  bar  of  Divine 
judgment,  and  proclaiming  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  as  the  only  means  of  acceptance  with  God. 

Having  set  forth  ihe  great  scheme  of  redemption,  the 
apostle  deals  with  its  bearing  on  the  fortunes  of  tkt 
chosen  people  (ix.-xi.)  He  shows  that  their  failure  to 
enter  into  the  blessmgs  of  the  New  Covenant,  which 
gave  him  "great  sorrow  and  unceasing  pain  in  (his) 
heart,"  was  due  to  their  own  spiritual  blindness,  as 
foretold  in  the  writings  of  the  prophets.  Their  recent 
experience  was  in  keeping  with  the  analogy  of  God's 
dealings  with  them  in  the  past,  but  their  rejection  was 
only  partial  and  temporary,  destined  to  lead  in  the 
mysterious  wisdom  of  Divine  providence  to  a  still  fialler 
manifestation  of  Divine  goodness.  "  For  God  hath  shut 
up  all  unto  disobedience,  that  he  might  have  mercy 
upon  all "  (xi.  32). 

After  this  lesson  on  the  philosophy  of  history,  in 
which  the  apostle  seeks  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  with 
men  and  is  moved  again  and  again  to  adoration  of  the 
Divine  wisdom,  he  exhorts  his  readers  to  the  cultivation 
of  various  graces  and  virtues  as  the  best  refutation  of 
the  charge  of  lawlessness  to  which  the  gospel  of  the  free 
grace  of  God  is  liable  (xii.-xiv.)  In  conclusion,  he  sends 
numerous  greetings  to  indi\adual  Christians  with  whom 
he  is  personally  acquainted,  many  of  whom  had  rendered 
valuable  service  to  the  Church,  and  with  whom  he  had 
probably  been  brought  into  contact  at  Ephesus  and  other 
great  centres. 

There  are  several  breaks  in  the  epistle  where  it  might 
have  fitly  terminated  ;  and  this  circumstance,  together 
with  variations  in  the  arrangement  of  these  passages  in 
some  of  the  MSS.,  has  given  rise  to  the  idea  that  the 
epistle  was  sent  as  an  encyclical  or  circular-letter,  with 
varying  terminations,  to  a  number  of  Churches.  We 
may  add  that  the  fact  of  this  epistle,  although  addressed 


83       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS   WRITERS 

to  Romans,  being  written  in  Greek,  is  not  only  in  keeping 
with  the  apostle's  literary  habit,  but  is  also  in  accordance 
with  the  general  use  of  Greek  at  the  time  throughout  the 
civilised  world.  The  Christian  congregations  of  the  first 
century  were  like  so  many  Greek  colonies,  as  far  as  lan- 
guage was  concerned  ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  latter  part 
of  the  second  century  that  a  Latin  version  and  a  Latin 
literature  arose,  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  the  Christians 
in  North  Afirica.  It  may  be  noted  that  most  of  those  to 
whom  the  apostle  sends  salutations  in  this  epistle  bcai 
Graek 


PHIUPPIANS 


CHAPTER  xnr 

CPISTLES  OF  THE   IMPRISONMEWT 

AFTER  the  letter  to  the  Romans  there  is  an  interval 
of  three  or  four  years  before  we  can  trace  any  further 
correspondence  on  the  part  of  the  apostle.  Leaving 
G)rinth  in  the  spring  of  58  A.D.,  he  made  his  way  tc 
Jerusalem  along  the  coast  of  Macedonia  and  Asia  Minor. 
In  the  course  of  his  journey  we  find  him  taking  farewell 
of  one  Church  after  another,  under  a  strong  presentiment 
of  approaching  calamity.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Jerusalem,  he  was  arrested  on  account  of  a  tumult  result- 
ing from  a  last  eflfort  which  he  made  to  conciliate  the 
Jewish  Christians.  Removed  as  a  prisoner  to  Caesarea,  he 
was  there  detained  in  custody  for  two  years  under  the 
governor  Felix ;  but,  soon  after  the  appointment  of 
Festus  as  the  successor  of  Felix,  the  apostle  appealed 
for  trial  to  the  imperial  judgment  -  seat,  and  was  sent 
to  Rome  accordingly,  under  a  military  escort.  After 
a  disastrous  voyage,  in  which  he  suffered  shipwreck  on 
the  island  of  Malta,  where  he  had  to  pass  the  winter, 
he  arrived  at  Rome  in  the  early  summer  of  61  a,d. — his 
long  -  cherished  wish  at  length  realised,  but  in  a  very 
different  manner  from  what  he  had  at  one  time  antici- 
pated. Owing  to  protracted  delay  in  the  hearing  of  his 
case — a  thing  by  no  means  uncommon  under  the 
Emperors — he  remained  for  two  years  in  military 
custody,  his  right  hand  chained  to  the  left  hand  of  the 
loldier  who  guarded  him.     He  was  permitted,  howevef. 


84       NE  W  TESTAMENT  <&*  ITS   WRITERS 

to  reside  in  his  own  hired  lodging,  and  to  hold  free 
converse  with  friends  and  visitors. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  epistles  to  the 
Philippiansy  the  Colossians^  Philemon^  and  the  Ephesiam 
were  composed.  Each  of  these  epistles  bears  tokens  of 
having  been  written  daring  the  author's  imprisonment 
(PhiL  L  7,  13,  14,  17  ;  CoL  iv.  3,  18 ;  Philemon  w.  9, 
10,  13  ;  Eph.  iii.  i,  iv.  i;  cf.  Acts  xrviii.  16,  20).  It  is 
further  evident  that  the  imprisonment  was  occasioned 
by  his  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles  (CoL  I 
24-27;  Eph.  vi.  19-20;  Acts  xxii.  21-22,  xxvi.  19-21). 
Some  think  that  the  imprisonment  in  question  was  that 
which  the  apostle  endured  at  Caesarea.  But  in  several 
respects  the  circumstances  referred  to  in  the  epistles 
harmonise  better  with  his  stay  in  Rome.  In  particular 
the  impression  made  by  his  bonds  which  "  became  mani- 
fest in  Christ  throughout  the  whole  praetorian  guard,  and 
to  all  the  rest"  (PhiL  i.  13),  and  still  more  the  mention 
of  **  Caesar's  household  "  (iv.  22),  point  to  the  imperial 
city — while  the  apostle's  purpose  of  visiting  Macedonia 
after  his  release  (iL  24),  would  not  answer  to  his  state 
of  mind  while  he  was  looking  forward  to  a  visit  to  Rome. 
We  may  add  that  the  expression  used  in  Acts  xxviii.  20 
to  describe  Paul's  confinement,  namely  *♦  this  chain," 
Is  almost  identical  with  the  language  of  Ephes.  vi.  20, 
margin.  The  same  cannot  be  said  of  Acts  xxvL  29, 
relating  to  the  imprisonment  at  Caesarea. 

With  regard  to  the  order  in  which  these  four  epistles 
were  written,  many  critics  have  been  disposed  to  assign 
Philippians  to  a  later  date  than  the  three  others.  But 
none  of  their  arguments  when  examined  appear  to  have 
much  weight.  Philemon — which  can  be  shown  to  be 
contemporaneous  with  Colossians  (see  p.  93) — affords 
as  probable  an  indication  of  having  been  written  when 
the  imprisonment  was  drawing  to  a  close  (ver.  23,) 
as  anything  to  be  found  in  Philippians.  We  cannot, 
however,  infer  much,  from  such  expressions,  as  the 
apostle's  prospects  may  have  undergone  various  vicissi- 
tude* during  his  imprisonment     We  are  on  ssiiBr  ground 


PHIUPPIANS 


when  we  base  our  judgment  on  the  general  character  of 
the  several  epistles.  When  we  do  so  we  are  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  epistle  marks  the  transition  from 
Romans  to  Colossians  and  Ephesians.  While  the  former 
resembles  it  in  many  points  both  verbal  and  doctrinal,^ 
we  discern  in  the  two  latter  a  new  phase  of  doctrine  of 
which  scarcely  any  trace  can  be  found  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians. 

But  while  Philippians  was  probably  anterior  in  date 
to  the  three  others,  the  effects  of  the  apostle's  preaching 
in  Rome,  as  stated  in  L  13,  as  well  as  the  account  of 
Epaphroditus'  mission  to  that  city,  with  its  attendant 
circumstances  (ii.,  iv. ),  imply  that  some  considerable  time 
had  elapsed  since  the  apostle's  arrival.  We  may  there- 
fore assign  this  epistle  to  the  early  part  of  62  A.D.,  and 
the  three  others  to  the  close  of  the  same  year  or  the 
beginning  of  63  A,D.* 


••the  BPISTLB  of   PAUL  TH«  APOSTLE  TO  THE 

philippians" 

Who  •wrote  it. — The  Pauline  authorship  of  this 
epistle  is  generally  admitted.  It  is  a  characteristic  out- 
pouring of  the  apostle's  tender,  affectionate,  and  devout 
heart  ;  the  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  It  come  out 
in  the  course  of  the  epistle  in  a  casual  and  unaffected 
manner  ;  and  corroboration  of  them  is  found  in  the  Book 

1  Cf.  PhiL  L  3-8,  Rom.  L  S-ii ;  PhU.  L  10,  Rom.  fl.  18 ;  Phfl.  iu. 
4.  5,  Rom.  xii.  i ;  Phil.  iu.  o,  Rom.  x.  3;  Phil.  m.  10,  11.  Rom. 
Yi.  5.  In  a  general  sense  the  similarity  of  these  two  epistles  as 
contrasted  with  Colossians  and  Ephesians  may  be  accountwl  for 
by  the  former  being  addressed  to  Churches  in  Euroft,  the  latter 
to  Christians  of /I  «■«  ^/'»M»»".  ^       ,  .     . 

a  It  is  possible  the  apostle  may  have  written  other  letters  donng 
his  imprisonment.  His  anxiety  about  his  own  prospects  did  not 
prevent  him  from  engaging  in  active  labour  among  the  soldiers  and 
others  brought  into  contact  with  him.  or  from  superintending  by  means 
of  his  colleagues  and  envoys  the  various  Churches  which  looked  to 
him  for  guidance.  In  this  connection  the  following  names  occur 
In  the  epistles— Luke,  Timothy,  John  Mark,  Demas,  Jesus  Justus. 
Epaphroditus  (of  Philippi),   Tychicus  (of  EpbesasX  Epaphras  («f 


CoiossaeX  awl  Aiistarchus  (of 


lycnicus  ^oi   r. 
Thessalonica). 


so       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

of  Acts  and  elsewhere.  It  is  difiScult  to  imagine  what 
purpose  a  forger  could  have  had,  or  how  he  could  ever 
have  achieved  success,  in  fabricating  a  letter  of  such  a 
distinctly  personal  character. 

With  regard  to  external  evidence,  traces  of  expres- 
sions used  in  the  epistle  may  be  found  in  several  writers 
at  the  end  of  the  first  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century.  A  little  later  we  find  increasing  evidence  of 
the  epistle's  recognition  as  an  apostolic  work,  until  at 
the  close  of  the  second  century  its  general  acceptance  in 
the  Church  is  put  beyond  doubt.  One  writer  (Tertullian, 
about  200  A.D.)  states  that  it  had  all  along  been  read 
and  acknowledged  by  the  Church  of  Philippi. 

To  whom  written. — "To  all  the  saints  in  Christ 
Jesus  which  are  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and 
deacons."  Philippi  was  /Ae  first  place  at  which  St 
Paul  preached  the  Gospel  in  Europe — in  the  course  of 
his  second  missionary  journey,  52  A.D.  A  very  full  and 
graphic  account  of  this  visit  is  given  by  St  Luke,  who 
along  with  Timothy  and  Silas  accompanied  the  apostle  on 
the  occasion  (Acts  xvi.  1 1-40.)  The  city  lay  a  few  miles 
inland  from  the  coast  of  Macedonia,  at  the  confluence  of 
Asiatic  and  European  life  on  the  great  Egnatian  highway, 
where  there  was  a  pass  in  the  mountain  barrier  stretching 
north  and  south.  Founded  on  an  ancient  site  by  Philip, 
king  of  Macedonia  (who  named  it  after  himself)  in  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  the  city  was  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  a  Roman  colony  by  Augustus  (42  A.D.)  in 
commemoration  of  his  great  victory  over  Brutus  and 
Cassius  gained  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  As  a  colony  it 
became  politically  "a  miniature  likeness  of  Rome  ^^ ;  and 
the  high  sense  of  Roman  citizenship  which  pervaded 
the  community  may  be  seen  at  several  points  in  Luke's 
narrative  (Acts  xvi.  20,  2i,  35-39)  as  well  as  in  allusions 
in  the  epistle  (i.  27,  R.V.  margin  ;  iii.  20,  R.V.)  There 
were  comparatively  few  Jews  in  the  place,  as  we  may 
infer  from  the  want  of  any  regular  synagogue  and  the 
absence  of  any  Hebrew  name  in  the  list  of  converts. 
Onty  three  members  of  the  Church  are  specially  men« 


PHIUPPIANS 


doned  in  the  account  of  Paul's  visit  These  are  a 
proselyte  of  Asia,  a  Greek,  and  a  Roman — representing 
the  catholic  nature  of  the  Church  which  Paul  had  come 
to  establish, — representing,  too,  the  liberal  and  liberat- 
ing spirit  of  the  Gk)spel,  two  of  them  being  women,  and 
one  of  the  two  a  slave,  the  absolute  property  of  her 
master.  The  consecrating  influence  of  the  Gk)spel  on 
family  relations  is  brought  out  here  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  Church, — Lydia's  "  household  "  being 
baptized  with  her,  and  the  jailor  rejoicing  greatly  *•  with 
all  his  house."  The  prominence  assigned  to  women  both 
here  and  in  the  neighbouring  Churches  of  Thessalonica 
and  Beroea  (Acts  xvi.  13  ;  Acts  xvii.  4,  12  ;  cf.  iv.  2,  3) 
if  in  harmony  with  what  we  know  from  other  sources  to 
have  been  characteristic  of  Macedonian  society. 

Paul's  visit  to  Philippi  was  memorable  not  only  for 
the  converts  whom  he  made  but  also  for  the  sufferings  he 
endured  and  the  signal  deliverance  that  was  granted  to 
him.  The  Church  which  he  then  formed  excelled  all 
others  in  its  devoted  attachment  to  his  person  and  its 
repeated  acts  of  generosity  to  him.  This  generosity  he 
accepted,  contrary  to  his  ordinary  rule,  because  of  his  per- 
fect confidence  in  the  sincerity  and  affection  of  the  donors. 

We  hear  of  two  subsequent  visits  which  the  apostle 
paid  to  Philippi— in  57  and  58  a.d.  (Acts  xx.  2,  6).  His 
experience  on  these  occasions,  as  well  as  in  other  com- 
munications which  he  held  with  them,  had  done  much  to 
cheer  his  heart  In  their  contributions  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  they  appear  to  have  con- 
tributed, in  common  with  the  other  Macedonians,  even 
"beyond  their  power"  in  "much  proof  of  affliction" 
and  "deep  poverty"  (2  Cor.  viii.  1-4). 

Where  and  when  written.— At  Rome,  61-62 

A.D.  (see  pp.  84-85). 
Character    and    Contents.— Of  all   St   Paul's 

epistles  this  is  the  most  benign,  breathing  a  spirit  of  the 
warmest  sympathy  and  approval.  At  chap.  iv.  i  he 
addresses  the  Philippians  as  •*  my  brethren  beloved  and 
longed  for,  my  joy  and  crown."     In  this  respect  it  rar. 


«8       NEW  TESTAMENT  6f  ITS   WRiTERS 

passes  even  I  Thess.,  which  it  resembles  not  a  little  in  its 
gentle  and  confiding  tone. 

Without  any  assertion  of  apostolic  authority,  it  begins 
with  a  very  ftill  thanksgiving  for  the  tokens  of  grace 
which  the  Philippians  had  so  generally  manifested  since 
the  Gospel  was  preached  among  them.  These  tokens 
led  the  apostle  to  cherish  a  confident  persuasion  that 
they  would  advance  more  and  more  in  the  Christian  life 
and  realise  a  fulfilment  of  his  constant  prayer  on  their 
behalf  (L  l-ll). 

He  then  adverts  to  his  own  circumstances,  and  ■  refers 
to  the  salutary  influence  of  his  bonds  in  witnessing  for 
Christ  among  the  imperial  guard  and  in  the  city  gener- 
ally, while  his  friends  were  stimulated  by  his  example,  and 
even  his  enemies  the  Judaisers  were  provoked  to  greater 
activity  on  his  account  The  mutilated  gospel  taught 
by  these  he  regards  as  better  than  none  for  those  who 
know  not  Christ ;  and  instead  of  troubling  himself  about 
their  opposition  to  him,  he  will  rather  take  comfort  from 
their  labour,  feeling  assured  that  all  his  trials  will  work 
together  for  good.  He  is  prepared  either  for  life  or  for 
death  as  the  will  of  the  Lord  may  be,  although  he  has  a 
strong  impression  that  he  will  be  delivered  and  per- 
mitted to  visit  Philippi  once  more  (i.  12-26).  In  any 
case  he  would  appeal  to  them  to  \itfirm  and  united  in 
defence  of  Christ's  cause — counting  it  a  token  of  salvation 
that  they  are  permitted  **  not  only  to  believe  on  him,  but 
also  to  suffer  in  his  behalf"  (i.  27-30).  He  would 
counsel  them  to  avoid  all  rivalry  and  self-seeking,  and  to 
cultivate  that  humility  which  was  so  signally  displayed 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  was  attended  in  His  case 
with  such  glorious  results.  He  exhorts  them  to  work 
out  their  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling  as  in  God's 
presence  and  with  God's  help,  striving  to  walk  worthy  of 
their  calling  and  to  justify  the  apostle's  boast  concerning 
them.  They  might  rest  assured  that  he  was  as  devoted 
to  their  interests  as  ever,  and  was  ready,  if  need  be,  to 
give  up  his  life  on  their  behalf.  He  hoped  soon  to  send 
to  them  their  mutual  and  trusty  firiend  Timothy  with 


PHlLIFtiAMi> 


news  of  his  prospects,  and  in  return  he  hopes  to  hear  oJ 
their  state  before  he  visits  them  in  person.  Meanwhile 
he  is  sending  to  them  Epaphroditus,  the  messenger  o/ 
their  bounty,  who  has  been  of  invaluable  service  to  him 
since  his  arrival,  but  whose  recent  illness  and  anxiety 
on  their  account  render  it  expedient  that  he  should 
return  to  Philippi  (ii.) 

At  this  point  (iii.  i)  it  would  seem  as  if  the  apostle 
had  intended  to  draw  to  a  close — probably  by  a  renewal 
of  his  counsels  to  unity  and  brotherly  love.  But  from 
some  cause — perhaps  owing  to  his  being  interrupted  by 
fresh  news  of  the  Judaisers — he  launches  into  a  new 
subject,  warning  his  converts  against  the  infatuation  of 
those  who  would  put  their  confidence  in  Jewish  rights 
or  privileges^  and  avowing  his  own  renunciation  of  all 
such  claims,  in  view  of  the  new  life  which  comes  from 
fellowship  with  the  risen  and  exalted  Christ.  That  life 
cannot  be  realised  without  strenuous  and  persevering 
effort  in  the  path  of  duty.  He  would  therefore  caution 
them  against  the  gross  abuse  of  the  doctrines  of  grace 
which  some  are  guilty  of,  and  he  bids  them  take  his  own 
life  as  an  example  of  the  Christian  course.  In  chap.  iv. 
he  returns  to  the  subject  of  the  dissensions  among  them, 
and  refers  to  two  women  of  in6uence  in  the  Church  whom 
he  is  anxious  to  see  restored  to  terms  of  friendship.  For 
this  purpose  he  invokes  the  aid  of  Epaphroditus  ("true 
yoke-fellow  »)  and  other  leading  members  of  the  Church. 
He  adds  several  exhortations  of  a  general  nature  that  are 
among  the  most  beautiful  precepts  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment (iv.  4-9).  In  conclusion,  before  sending  the  final 
salutations,  he  thanks  the  Philippians  warmly  for  the 
renewal  of  their  bounty  towards  him,  which  he  welcomes 
not  so  much  on  his  own  account  as  for  the  evidence  it 
affords  of  their  devotion  to  the  Gospel.  For  their  kind- 
ness to  him  God  will  yet  reward  them  with  the  higher 
treasures  that  are  hid  in  Christ  Jesus  (iv.  10-23). 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  "  bishops  and  deacons" 
specially  addressed  in  the  opening  of  the  epistle  (i.  i )  re 
present  the  only  two  classes  of  local  Church  office-bearcrt 


90       NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

that  are  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  The  former 
(bishops  or  overseers^  R.V.  margin)  are  identical  with 
the  "elders"  or  presbyters  elsewhere  mentioned,  to 
whom  were  entrusted  governing  and  teaching  functions 
in  the  Church,  while  the  deacons  appear  to  have  been 
specially  charged  with  the  care  of  the  poor.  The  three 
Episcopal  orders  of  bishop,  priest,  and  deacon  cannot  be 
distinctly  traced  before  the  second  centoif. 


COLOSSIANS 


CHAPTER   XV 

COLOSSIANS — PHILEMON 

"THE  BPISTLB  OP   PAUL  THE  APOSTLX  TO  THE 
COLOSSIANS  " 

HP  HE  Pauline  authorship  of  this  epistle,  as  well  as  of 
-*•  that  to  the  Ephesians  (which  it  closely  resembles), 
has  of  recent  years  been  called  in  question,  not  for 
any  want  of  external  evidence,  but  because  of  its 
peculiar  phraseology  as  compared  with  the  earlier  epistles 
of  PauL  The  objection,  however,  is  one  of  little 
force.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  writer's  voca- 
bulary to  undergo  a  considerable  change  in  the  coarse 
of  a  very  short  period,  when  he  is  placed  amid  new 
surroundings  and  under  the  influence  of  new  asso- 
ciations.^ Anything  strange  about  the  apostle's  language 
in  this  epistle  is  sufficiently  explained  by  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  wrote,  and  was  evidently  occasioned  by 
the  tKw  errors  which  he  was  called  to  encounter. 

It  is  alleged,  however,  that  we  have  in  this  epistle, 
not  only  novelty  in  language  but  also  in  doctrine^ 
especially  with  regard  to  the  nature  and  office  of  Christ. 
But  the  truth  is  we  have  here  only  the  full  development 
of  ideas  which  had  germinated  in  the  apostle's  mind 
years  before  ( i  Thess.  L  i  ;  i  Cor.  viiu  6,  xi  3  ;  2  Cor. 
iv.  4),  and  are  to  be  found  in  other  books  of  the  New 


i  A  dow  emininwrion  of  the  works  of  Xenophon,  for 
Ihw  brooght  to  light  a  remarkable  rariarioD  of  language  in 'the 
books  btwrot*  amr  he  began  to  more  about  from  nUce  to  nlaoe 
UkeScPauL 


9a       NEW  TESTAMENT  df  ITS   WRITERS 

Testament  (i  John  i.  3;  Heb.  L  2).  In  the  notable 
passage  in  Philippians  (ii.  5-1 1)  regarding  the  original 
glory  and  the  ultimate  exaltation  of  the  Saviour,  as  lofty 
d  claim  is  made  on  His  behalf  to  the  reverence  and 
adoration  of  the  Church  as  is  anywhere  to  be  found  in 
this  epistle. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  too,  that  this  epistle  has  a  special 
mark  of  genuineness  in  the  singular  connection  which 
subsists  between  it  and  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  (iv.  7-18, 
Philemon  2,  10-12,  23,  24).^ 

To  whom  written. — "To  the  saints  and  faithful 
brethren  in  Christ  which  are  at  Colossae.**  The  Church 
at  Colossae  seems  to  have  been  the  Uast  important  of 
the  Churches  to  which  Paul  is  known  to  have  written. 
The  city  itself  had  at  one  time  been  populous  and  im- 
portant, but  its  prosperity  was  very  much  reduced  before 
the  days  of  the  apostle.  It  lay  on  the  river  Lycus, 
a  tributary  of  the  Mseander  in  the  Phrygian  part  of  Asia 
Minor,  not  many  miles  distant  from  its  more  prosperous 
neighbours,  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis  (iv.  1 3),  in  "a 
sombre  and  melancholy  region  "  covered  with  the  traces 
of  volcanic  action.  In  common  with  these  cities,  Colossae 
had  doubtless  been  indebted  for  its  knowledge  of  Chris- 
tianity to  the  evangelistic  labours  of  Paul  at  Ephesus^ 
the  metropolis  of  the  district,  from  which  his  influence 
had  spread  far  and  wide,  '*  almost  throughout  all  Asia  " 
(Acts  xix.  10,  26  ;  I  Cor.  xvi.  19).  Although  we  may 
infer  from  his  language  in  the  epistle  (ii.  i)  that  Paul 
had  not  personally  laboured  among  the  Colossians,  it 
would  seem  that  their  chief  evangelist,  Epaphras,  had 
been  one  of  his  disciples  (L  7,  R.  V.) 

1  This  connection  is  such,  that  if  Philemon  be  genaine  (as  genets 
ally  admitted),  Colossians  must  likewise  be  so  ;  otherwise  it  must  be 
a  forgery  founded  on  Philemon.  But  this  is  seen  to  be  very  unlikelj 
when  it  is  remembered  that— (i)  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  there  is 
no  mention  whatever  of  Colossae,  or  of  any  place  in  its  neighbour- 
hood, nor  yet  of  the  messenger  Tychicus ;  (2)  there  are  variations 
in  the  salutations  sent  in  the  two  epistles,  such  as  we  can  scarcely 
imagine  to  have  been  resorted  to  in  the  interests  of  forgery ;  and 
(3)  in  Colossians  there  is  no  reference  whatever  to  Philemon  himself 
or  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  Oaesimus  as  a  runaway  slave. 


COLOiiSJANS  93 


This  Epaphras  had  paid  a  visit  to  Rome  during  Paul's 
imprisonment  there.  Whether  he  had  come  for  the 
express  purpose  of  consulting  the  apostle  regarding  the 
state  of  the  Colossians  is  not  clear  ;  but  at  all  events  he 
made  Paul  acquainted  with  the  dangers  that  were  be- 
setting the  Church  notwithstanding  many  tokens  of  grace 
(i.  3-8  ;  iL  8-20;  iv.  12,  13).  The  interest  in  Colossae 
which  was  thus  awakened  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle  by 
his  conversation  with  Epaphras  was  further  stimulated 
by  his  intercourse  with  Orusimui^  a  runaway  slave  from 
the  same  city,  who  was  in  some  way  or  other  brought 
under  his  influence  at  Rome,  and  proved  an  invaluable 
friend  (iv.  9,  cf.  Philemon).  He  could  not  permanently 
retain  Onesimus  in  his  service,  as  he  was  the  lawful 
property  of  another,  so  he  took  the  opportunity  aflForded 
by  the  mission  of  Tychicus  (a  trusty  delegate)  to  Asia 
(iv.  7-9 ;  Acts  XX.  4 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  12)  to  send  Onesimus 
along  with  him,  giving  the  latter  a  conciliatory  letter 
to  his  master  Philemon  (pp.  95-98).  At  the  same  time 
he  addresses  a  longer  communication  to  the  members 
of  the  Colossian  Church,  with  special  reference  to  the 
evils  to  which  they  were  exposed.  The  latter  he  entrusts 
to  the  care  of  Tychicus,  by  whom  he  also  despatches 
another  epistle  intended  for  a  still  wider  circle  of  readers 
(Eph    vi.  21,  22). 

Where  and  when  written.— At  Rome,  62-63  ^.ix 

(pp.  84-85). 

Character  and  Contents. — It  has  been  remarked 
that  this  epistle  lacks  the  vivacity  and  fluency  which 
characterise  the  apostle's  style  when  he  is  addressing 
readers  personally  known  to  him. 

To  the  ordinary  reader  it  is  probably  the  most  difficult 
of  Paul's  epistles,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  designed 
to  be  a  corrective  of  certain  errors  of  a  recondite  nature 
with  which  we  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  at  the 
present  day.  For  these  errors  the  Jewish  element  of 
the  population,  which  prevailed  so  largely  in  that  part 
xA  the  world,  was  largely  responsible.  It  was  not  the 
Pharisees,    however,    whose   endeavours,  at   an   earlier 


94       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

period,  to  foist  the  ceremonial  law  of  the  Jews  on  the 
Christian  Church  had  been  so  strenuously  and  success- 
fully resbted  by  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  but  the 
Essnus^  another  sect  of  the  Jews,  that  were  now  the 
corrupters  of  the  faith.  Their  pretensions  were  of  a 
more  abstruse  and  philosophic  character,  savouring  of 
combined  mysticism  and  asceticism;  and  along  with 
their  teaching  was  mingled  the  theosophy  of  Asia  Minor, 
resulting  in  the  strange  form  of  heresy  which  we  find 
the  apostle  combating  in  this  epistle. 

The  heresy  was  partly  speculative,  partly  practical,  but 
at  the  root  of  the  whole  there  lay  an  abhorrence  of  matter 
as  the  abode  of  evil,  and  a  consequent  depreciation  of 
everything  connected  with  man's  physical  existence. 
This  led,  on  its  speculative  side,  to  an  elaborate  system 
of  mediation  between  the  Supreme  Being  and  the  world  of 
matter,  by  means  of  a  spiritual  hierarchy  consisting  of  a 
graduated  series  of  emanations  from  the  deity,  the  lowest 
of  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  far  enough  removed 
from  the  Supreme  Being  to  be  capable  of  bringing  into 
existence  the  base  material  world.  In  opposition  to 
this  theory  the  apostle  insists  upon  the  absolute  and 
universal  mediatorship  of  Christ — in  the  outward  uni- 
verse created  through  Him  (i.  i6)  as  well  as  in  the 
Church  of  which  He  is  the  Head  (i.  i8). 

On  its  practical  side  the  error  took  the  form  of  a 
rigorous  asceticism,  intended  to  free  man's  spirit  from 
the  degrading  influence  of  the  world  and  the  flesh.  To 
counteract  this  tendency,  the  apostle  proclaims  the 
inspiring  and  life-giving  power  of  fellowship  with  Jesus 
Christy  by  whose  death  upon  the  Cross  reconciliation 
has  been  effected  between  heaven  and  earth,  and  in 
whom  •'  dwelleth  all  the  fiilness  of  the  Godhead  bodily." 
The  spirit  of  Christ  ought  to  raise  Christians  above  the 
mere  elements  or  **  rudiments  "  of  the  world,  imparting 
to  them  new  motives  and  a  higher  consciousness ;  and 
the  apostle  calls  upon  his  readers  to  consecrate  "in 
Christ "  all  departments  of  their  personal  and  social  life. 

While  the  speculative  and  practical  aspects  of  the 


PHILEMON  95 


subject  are  not  kept  entirely  distinct,  the  former  is 
chieriy  dealt  with  in  chap,  i.,  following  the  opening 
salutation,  thanksgiving,  and  prayer ;  while  the  latter 
is  treated  in  ii.-iv.  6.  The  remainder  of  the  epistle 
(iv.  7-18)  is  occupied  with  salutations  and  personal 
explanations  and  directions. 

In  several  passages  a  reference  may  be  traced  to  the 
intellectual pricU  and  exclusiventss  which  were  associated 
with  the  errors  of  the  Colossian  Church.  Among  its 
Jewish  members,  the  pride  of  intellect  was  taking  the 
place  of  the  old  pride  of  aationaUty.  In  opposition 
to  this  tendency  the  apostle  declares  that  **  in  Christ " 
— not  in  any  philosophy  which  man  could  devise — 
**  are  all  the  treasures  of  vnsdom  and  knowledge  hidden  " 
(ii.  3).  He  prays  that  they  **may  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  his  will  in  all  spiritual  wisdom  and 
understanding"  (i.  9).  He  represents  the  Gospel  as 
a  "  mystery  "  that  has  been  *♦  manifested  "  to  the  whole 
Church — his  duty  as  an  apostle  being  to  proclaim  Christ, 
"  admonishing  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man  in  all 
msdom ;  that  he  may  present  every  man  perfect  in 
Christ "  (i.  25-28 ;  ii.  2-3).  He  thus  declares  the 
Church  to  be  a  spiritual  democracy  in  which  there  is 
no  room  for  any  privileged  class  or  inner  circle  of 
disciples  —  even  the  Scythians,  the  least  refined  of 
nations,  being  raised  to  the  same  level,  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  as  the  Jews  themselves,  or  the  most  cultivated  of 
the  Gentiles  (iii.  11). 

"THE   EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  TO  PHILEMON** 

Who  wrote  it. — This  epistle  is  thoroughly  Pauline ; 
and  its  contents  are  of  too  private  and  (from  a  doctrinal 
and  ecclesiastical  point  of  view)  too  insignificant  a  nature 
to  have  ever  been  admitted  into  the  Canon  if  it  had  not 
been  a  genuine  writing  of  Paul's. 

Its  close  connection  with  Colossians  has  alreadv  been 
referred  to.  The  circumstances  under  which  it  reached 
fl^lemoii,  and  even  the  latter 's  place  of  residence,  woulJ 


96       NEW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS    WRITERS 

be  shrouded  in  mystery  if  it  were  not  for  Colossians. 
Yet  no  hint  is  given  there  of  the  episode  in  Paul's  life 
which  gave  rise  to  this  epistle  —  the  only  thing  relating 
to  it  being  an  allusion  to  Onesimus  as  **  the  faithful  and 
beloved  brother  who  is  one  of  you "  (Col.  iv.  9).  So 
independent  are  the  two  epistles  in  their  contents. 

To  whom  written. — "To  Philemon  our  beloved, 
and  fellow -worker." 

To  ascertain  Philemon's  residence  we  have,  as  already 
remarked,  to  consult  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
Philemon  himself  is  not  mentioned  there  ;  but  Archippus 
whom  Pa\il  associates  with  Philemon  and  Apphia  (prob- 
ably Philemon's  wife)  in  the  opening  greeting  of  this 
epistle,  is  mentioned  in  Colossians  in  such  a  way  as  to 
imply  that  he  was  an  office-bearer  of  the  Church  either 
at  Colossse  or  in  the  neighbourhood  (iv.  17).  From 
the  context  (iv.  15,  16)  it  has  been  suggested  that 
Laodicea,  which  was  about  twelve  miles  from  Colossse, 
was  the  scene  of  Archippus'  labours.  The  association 
of  his  name  vnth  that  of  Philemon,  in  the  epistle 
addressed  to  the  latter,  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
he  was  either  Philemon's  son  or  his  minister.  The 
connection  of  Philemon  with  Colossse  is  further  evident 
from  the  fact  that  his  slave  Onesimus  is  spoken  of  in 
Colossians  as  "  one  of  you,"  and  is  announced  as  a 
visitor  to  Colossae  (Col.  iv.  9)  at  the  same  time  as  he 
is  restored  to  his  master  (Phil.  12). 

We  gather  from  the  epistle  that  Philemon  had  been 
converted  to  Christianity  through  the  instrumentality  o» 
the  apostle,  and  had  since  then  earned  a  reputation  foi 
charity  and  devotion,  his  house  being  one  of  the  meeting- 
places  of  the  Church.  It  was  owing  to  special  circum- 
stances^  however,  that  he  had  the  distinction  of  having 
an  apostolic  letter  addressed  to  him.  A  slave  of  his, 
Onesimus  by  name,  had  absconded  (like  many  anothei 
Phrygian  slave)  and  made  his  way  to  Rome,  apparently 
with  the  aid  of  money  stolen  from  his  master.  There 
he  was  providentially  brought  under  the  influence  o 
Patllf  aQd  becanae  a  confirmed  Christian,  endearing  him- 


PHILEMON 


self  to  the  apostle  by  his  grateful  and  devoted  services 
n  the  Gospel.  As  he  was  Philemon's  lawful  slave,  Paul 
could  not  think  of  retaining  him  permanently  in  his 
service.  He  therefore  took  the  opportunity  afforded  by 
Tychicus'  return  to  Asia  to  send  him  back  to  his  master, 
in  doing  so  he  gave  him  a  letter  to  Philemon  with  the 
view  of  winning  for  him  a  merciful  reception,  and  to 
save  him  from  the  severe  and  cruel  punishment  which 
was  permitted  by  the  Roman  law — even  to  the  extent 
of  death — in  such  cases. 

Where  and  when  written. — At  Rome,  62-63 

A.D.  (see  pp.  84,  85). 

Character   and    Contents.— This   is   the   only 

extant  letter  of  Paul's  written  to  a  friend  on  a  matter 
of  private  business.  On  all  sides  it  has  received  the 
svarmest  praise  and  admiration — not  on  account  of  its 
language,  which  has  nothing  particular  to  recommend  ii, 
but  for  its  tcut^  deluacy^  and  good  feeling.  While  the 
ap)Ostle  puts  the  case  very  strongly  in  favour  of  Onesimus 
— so  strongly  that  it  has  been  finely  said  "  the  word 
emancipation  seems  trembling  on  his  lips," — he  refrains 
from  any  interference  with  Philemon's  civil  rights, 
seeking  only  to  awaken  within  him  such  feelings  ot 
humanity  and  kindness  as  will  be  a  safeguard  against 
harsh  and  unbrotherly  conduct.  In  this  respect  the 
epistle  affords  a  good  illustration  of  the  remedial  and 
reforming  influence  of  the  Gospel,  which  seeks  to  gain 
»ts  ends  from  within  and  not  from  without,  by  persuasioii 
rather  than  by  compulsion. 

It  has  been  described  as  the  letter  of  a  Christian 
^entleman^  animated  by  strong  Christian  feeling,  tem- 
pered with  discretion,  and  expressed  with  dignity  and 
moderation  not  untouched  with  humour.^  The  whole 
tone  and  structure  of  the  letter  was  well  fitted  to  bring 
lut  the  better  nature  of  Philemon;  and  it  was  doubtless  to 
strengthen  the  appeal — by  making  Philemon  realise  that 
the  eyes  of  his  fellow-Christians  were  upon  him — that 

A  In  verse  ii  there  is  a  play  on  the  name  "Onesimus,"  which  it 
4|e  original  means  "  profitable." 


98      NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS  WRITERS 

Paul  associates  Timothy  with  himself  in  his  opening 
greeting,  and  sends  salutations  from  several  others  whose 
names  are  given  at  the  close.  He  even  throws  out  a  hint 
that  it  may  not  be  long  btfore  h«  visits  Philemon  is 
person  (verse  23). 


EPHESIANS 


CHAPTER  XVI 

••the  bpistlk  op  padl  the  apostlb  to  the 

ephesians  " 

WHO  wrote  it. — As  regards  extenuJ  evidence,  this 
is  one  of  the  best-attested  of  Paul*«  epistles ;  and 
until  recently  its  genuineness  was  never  doobted. 

Internally  it  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  ColossianSy 
78  of  its  15s  verses  containing  expressions  that  are  also 
found  in  that  epistle.  No  doubt  the  resemblance  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  two  epistles  were  written  at  the  same  time 
on  kindred  subjects  to  kindred  Churches.  In  both  epistles 
Tychicus  is  referred  to  in  similar  terms  as  the  apostle's 
messenger ;  and  they  both  bear  to  have  been  written 
by  the  apostle  while  he  was  a  prisoner  (vL  2i,  22; 
CoL  iv.  7-9).  From  the  occurrence  of  the  significant 
word  "  also  "  in  the  former  passage,  we  may  infer  that 
Ephesians  was  written  later,  although  but  a  few  days  may 
have  intervened — the  closing  verses  of  Colossians  (iv. 
15-18)  having  been  subsequently  added.  As  might 
have  been  expected  under  the  circumstances,  the  simi- 
larity between  the  two  epistles  does  not  extend  to 
continuous  passages,  but  is  confined  to  single  verses  and 
occasional  expressions  such  as  would  be  likely  to  remain 
in  the  writer's  memory  and  reappear  in  his  language  if 
he  were  writing  a  second  time  within  a  very  short 
interval. 

We  have  a  remarkable  token  of  the  genuineness  of 
this  epistle,  as  of  ■evenJ  others  attributed  to  Paoli 


fbo     NEW  TESTAMENT  &  ITS    WRITERS 

in  the  fact  that  while  the  writer  dwells  with  great 
satisfaction  on  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  to  the 
blessings  of  the  Gospel,  he  shows  so  much  regard 
for  the  rite  of  circumcision  interpreted  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  and  is  so  careful  to  show  that  in  this  sense  It 
is  realised  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  Christians  (ii.  1 1 ;  iii. 
r-9;  cf.  Col.  ii.  ii;  Phil.  iii.  2,  3;  Gal.  vi.  16;  Rom.  ii. 
28,  29).  This  is  a  state  of  feeling  which  was  most 
natural  in  a  Jewish -bom  Christian  like  Paul,  after  the 
struggle  against  the  bondage  of  the  Law  was  practically 
over. 

To  whom  written. — it  is  now  generally  agreed  that 
this  epistle  was  not  addressed  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus 
exclusively,  but  was  of  the  nature  of  a  circular-letter  for 
the  general  use  of  the  Churches  of  Proconsular  Asia.* 

There  can  be  little  doubt,  indeed,  that  we  have  here 
the  epistle  referred  to  in  CoL  iv.  16,  where  the  apostle 
directs  the  Colossians  to  read  also  "  the  epistle  from 
Laodicea,^''  and  to  send  their  own  letter  in  exchange,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Christians  there.  Even  before  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  we  find  a  heretical  writer 
(Marcion)  connecting  this  epistle  with  Laodicea.  Yet 
it  is  evident  that  it  could  not  have  been  specially  ad- 
dressed to  Laodicea,  as  the  apostle  sends  his  salutations 
to  "  the  brethren  that  are  in  Laodicea  "  through  another 
channel  (CoL  iv.  15).  The  difficulty  b  met  by  suppos- 
ing that  we  have  here  a  circular-letter  of  which  Laodicea 


1  In  favour  of  this  supposition  are  the  facts  (i)  that  the  words  •'  b 

Ephesus"  (L  i)  were  absent  from  many  of  the  ancient  MSS.  known 
to  Basil  (360  A.D.),  and  are  wanting  in  the  two  oldest  MSS.  that  hare 
come  down  to  us  (N  and  B) ;  (2)  that  no  persona!  salutations  are 
found  in  the  epistle  although  Paul  had  laboured  successfully  for 
several  years  at  Ephesus,  forming  many  intimate  friendships  (Acts 
XX.  17-38),  nor  any  reference  whatever  to  his  experiences  during 
that  time  ;  (3)  that  he  writ*6  as  if  the  Christian  graces  of  his  readers 
were  only  known  to  him  b^  report,  and  as  if  his  apostleship  to  the 
Gentiles  were  only  known  to  them  by  hearsay  (i.  15-19  ;  iii.  1-4  ;  iv. 
17-22  ;  cf.  Col.  i.  3-9) ;  (4)  that  the  usual  apostolic  autograph  is  absent, 
owing,  we  may  suppose,  to  copies  of  the  epistle  for  the  several 
Churches  having  to  be  made  out  in  the  course  of  the  messenger"? 
joomeys  or  at  the  different  places  at  which  they  had  to  be  deliverec 


EPHESIANS  loi 

recK"^ed  a  copy  in  common  with  other  Churches  of  the 
province, — to  be  communicated  to  the  neighbouring 
jhurch  at  Colossae,  The  name  of  the  Ephesian  Church 
would  naturally  become  associated  with  the  epistle  owing 
to  AS  being  the  leading  Church  of  the  district,  receiving 
the  fir>t  copy  from  Tychicus  on  his  way  to  Colossae, 
and  being  the  source  of  many  later  copies  to  Churches 
:     other  parts  of  the  world. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — It  has  been  said 
by  Coleridge  that  this  is  "one  of  the  divinest  composi 
Kons  of  man.  It  embraces  every  doctrine  of  Chris 
V  inity  ;  first,  those  doctrines  peculiar  to  Christianity  ; 
secondly,  those  precepts  common  to  it  with  natural 
religion."  In  its  doctrinal ^zx\.  (L-iii.)  the  epistle  is  dis 
♦inguished  by  a  tone  of  exultation  which  will  not  stoop  to 
controversy,  expressing  itself  in  the  flow  of  a  sublime 
eloquence  rather  than  in  the  form  of  a  logical  argument. 
Instead  of  labouring  to  demonstrate  those  truths,  regard- 
ing the  standing  of  the  Gentiles  and  his  own  position  as 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  for  which  he  had  contended 
in  his  earlier  epistles,  the  writer  takes  these  things  for 
granted  and  soars  into  far  loftier  regions — viewing  the 
Gospel  and  the  Church  in  relation  not  to  time,  but  to 
eternity,  not  to  the  nations  of  the  world,  but  to  the 
universe  at  large.  Here,  as  in  Colossians,  Paul  re 
cognises  Christ  as  the  appointed  Head  of  the  universe — 
material  as  well  as  spiritual — and  sees  in  His  atoning 
death  the  universal  centre  of  divine  providence.  Here, 
as  there,  he  is  thrilled  with  a  sense  of  joy  not  untouched 
with  awe  when  he  contemplates  the  great  mystery  of  the 
divine  will — the  eternal  purpose  of  God  so  long  concealed, 
but  now  at  length  revealed  and  so  far  realised  through 
his  instrumentality,  to  wit,  the  destined  union  of  Jew 
and  Gentile  in  the  mystical  body  of  the  risen  and  exalted 
Christ  In  this  union  he  sees  the  pledge  and  token  of 
that  universal  gathering  together  in  one  of  "all  things  m 
Christ,  tbe  things  in  the  heavens,  and  the  things  upon  tht 
earth,"  that  is  to  be  the  consummation  of  God's  purposes 
n  Christ  (i.   lO).      But,  whereas  in  Colossians  he  dwHb 


loa     NE  W  TESTAMENT  <5f  ITS    WRITERS 

mainly  on  the  person  of  Christ  as  the  "  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily,"  here  he  is  impelled  rather  to  the  con- 
templation of  the  Church  as  "the  body  of  Christ,  the 
fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all,"  and  expatiates 
upon  the  glory  and  riches  of  the  spiritual  blessing  with 
which  its  members  are  blessed  in  heavenly  places  in 
Christ* 

The  first  half  of  the  epistle  is  thus  for  the  most  part 
a  hymn  of  praise  for  the  grace  of  God^  manifested  accord- 
ing to  His  good  pleasure  which  He  had  purposed  in  him- 
self, — accompanied  with  the  apostle's  prayer  for  his  readers 
that  they  may  realise  the  glory  of  their  calling.  Hence 
it  was  Calvin's  favourite  epistle,  as  Galatians  was  of 
Luther. 

In  the  second  part  the  apostle  descends  by  a  swift  and 
beautiful  transition  to  the  duties  of  common  life,  **  I 
therefore,  the  prisoner  in  the  Lord,  beseech  you  to  walk 
worthily  of  the  calling  wherewith  ye  were  called  "  (iv.  i ) ; 
and  the  remainder  of  the  epistle  consists  of  practical 
exhortations  based  on  the  ideal  unity  of  the  Church  as 
the  harmonious  body  of  Christ,  and  embracing  the  various 
forms  of  social  and  domestic  duty  to  which  *'  the  new 
man  "  is  called  in  the  ordinary  relations  of  life.  Finally 
there  is  a  stirring  call  to  put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God 
for  the  conflict  with  the  powers  of  evil, — expressed  in  the 
language  of  a  metaphor  which  may  have  been  suggested 
to  Paul  by  his  military  surroundings  at  Rome,  and 
forming  a  passage  of  great  force  and  beauty,  which  of 
itself  would  make  this  epistle  a  precious  heritage  of  the 
Church. 

The  catholic  nature  oi  this  epistle  shows  that  the 
apostle's  education  was  now  complete.  The  Saviour, 
whom  he  only  knew  at  his  conversion  as  the  Risen  One 
dwelling  in  another  world,  has  become  to  him  as  an 
all-pervading  Presence  which  may  be  realised  even  now 
in  the  sphere  of  human  life,  as  the  type  of  all  affection 
and  the  centre  of  all  authority,  in  the  State  and  in  the 

1  The  word  "  spirit "  or  "  spiritual "  occurs  13  times  in  this  epistle 
*the  heaTmlies  "  5  times,  "  the  erace  of  God  "  13  time*. 


EPHESIANS  Z09 

family  as  well  as  in  the  Church.  During  his  residence 
at  Rome,  the  seat  of  empire  and  the  centre  of  the  world's 
secular  life,  Paul  learned,  as  he  had  never  yet  done,  the 
meaning  of  the  Saviour's  prayer,  "Thy  kingdom 
Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  u  it  is  in  beaveB." 


UH     MM\^   TESTAMENT  txf  ITS    WRITER^ 


CHAPTER    XVn 

THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES 

I  and  2  Timothy  and  Titus  are  known  as  the  Pastoral 

Epistles,  because  they  relate  chiefly  to  the  qualifications 
and  duties  of  office-bearers  entrusted  with  the  pastoral 
care  of  the  Church. 

They  are  distinguished  from  all  the  other  epistles  o! 
Paul  by  their  wan>^  of  historical  agreement  with  any 
period  in  the  life  of  the  apostle  as  recorded  in  the  Book 
of  Acts,  and  also  by  their  strongly -marked  individuality 
alike  in  style  and  substance.  Hence  their  genuineness 
has  been  more  called  in  question  than  any  of  the  other 
epistles  of  Paul — notwithstanding  a  large  amount  of  ex- 
ternal testimony  in  their  favour. 

The  objections  taken  to  them,  however,  on  these 
grounds  are  almost  entirely  obviated  if  we  suppose  them 
to  have  been  written  subsequently  to  the  events  narrated 
hi  the  Book  of  Acts.  This  is  a  supposition  that  in  itself 
involves  no  improbability.  It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  Paul's 
own  expectation  (Phil.  ii.  24  ;  Philemon,  ver.  22)  that  he 
would  be  released  from  the  imprisonment  in  which  the 
Book  of  Acts  leaves  him  ;  and  for  this  expectation  he 
seems  to  have  had  sufficient  grounds  in  the  inadequacy 
of  the  evidence  brought  against  him,  as  well  as  in  the 
tolerant  attitude  of  the  Roman  Government  previous  to 
the  great  fire  in  Rome  (64  A.D. ),  which  was  falsely 
attributed  to  the  Christians  and  brought  terrible  persecu- 
tioas  in  its  train.      Moreover,  there  is  an  early  and  general 


THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES  105 

tradition  to  the  effect  that  he  was  released.  Asstiming 
that  his  liberation  did  take  place,  the  difficulty  of  har- 
monising the  epistles  with  his  life  disappears ;  while  the 
late  date  of  their  composition — possibly  some  years  after 
his  release — would  go  far  to  account  for  the  peculiarity 
of  their  contents.  It  is  no  wonder  that  questions  of  dis- 
cipline and  government  as  well  as  of  orthodoxy  should 
now  receive  from  the  apostle  a  larger  measure  of  attention 
than  they  had  ever  yet  done,  considering  the  growing 
needs  of  the  Church  and  the  responsible  position  of  those 
to  whom  the  epistles  are  addressed.  The  Church  had 
now  been  for  many  years  a  visible  institution  with  office- 
bearers of  its  own ;  and  important  doctrines  had  been 
vindicated  and  established.  To  conserve  these  doctrines 
and  to  provide  for  the  regular  superintendence  of  the 
Church  after  he  and  the  other  apostles  had  passed  away, 
was  Paul's  great  object  in  writing  these  epistles.^ 

The  idea  that  the  epistles  may  have  been  the  products 
of  a  later  age  is  in  many  respects  untenable.  Alike  as 
regards  the  office-bearers  mentioned,  namely,  bishops  and 
deacons,  and  the  doctrinal  needs  and  dangers  of  the 
Church,  they  remind  us  far  more  of  the  state  of  things 
existing  during  Paul's  first  imprisonment,  when  he  wrote 
Philippians  and  Colossians,  than  of  anything  In  the 
second  century.  By  the  latter  time  the  name  of  '*  bishop  " 
had  been  appropriated  to  a  chief  dignitary  ruling  over 
the  **  presbyters  "  or  elders,  instead  of  being  applied  as 
here  to  the  presbyters  themselves  as  the  overseers  of 
the  congregation  (Titus  L  5,  7,  cf.  Acts  xx.  17-28)  ; 
while  the  vague  notions  engrafted  on  the  Jewish  Law, 
towards  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age,  as  a  more  enlightened 
kind  of  piety  ("knowledge  falsely  so  called"),  had  then 
developed  into  an  elaborate  system  called  Gnosticism, 
which  set  itself  in  direct  opposition  to  the  orthodox  faith, 
and,  unlike  the  heresy  in  these  epistles,  repudiated  ail 
affinity  with  the  Jewish  Law. 

1  The  large  infusion  of  new  words  (jLe.  words  not  elsewhere  as«d 
by  the  apostle)  is  in  accordance  with  the  gradual  expansion  of  his 
vocabulary,  which  is  evident  on  a  compansoo  of  Paul's  soccessiv* 


tab     A£  W  TESTAMENT  <5r»  ITS    WRITERS 


"THE   FIRST   KPISTLE  OF   PAUL  THE   APOSTLE  TO 
TIMOTHY  " 

Who  wrote  it. — We  can  trace  allusion  to  this 
epistle  as  far  back  as  the  close  of  the  first  century.  A 
hundred  years  later  we  find  it  universally  accepted  as 
Paul's,  although  it  had  been  rejected  in  the  course  of  the 
second  century  by  one  or  two  heretical  writers,*  owing  to 
the  difficulty  of  reconciling  its  teaching  with  their  favourite 
tenets. 

In  a  general  sense  its  peculiarities  in  language  and  con- 
tents have  already  been  accounted  for.  In  some  respects, 
however,  its  peculiarities  are  positively  in  favour  of  the 
Pauline  authorship.  How  unlikely  that  a  forger  would 
insert  the  word  «'  mercy  "  *  (i.  2)  in  the  usual  Pauline  greet- 
ing ••  grace  and  peace,"  or  that  he  should  have  failed  to 
make  a  lavish  use  of  the  connecting  particles  "  wherefore," 
"  then,"  etc,  which  are  so  common  in  Paul's  writings. 

Objection  has  been  taken  to  the  expression  "  let  no 
man  despise  thy  youth"  (iv.  12),  as  if  the  apostle  could 
not  have  applied  that  lang,iage  to  Timothy  when  he  was 
already  a  man  of  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  But 
youth  is  relative ;  and  in  Paul's  eyes  Timothy,  being  so 
much  his  junior,  and  having  been  known  to  him  as  a 
lad,  would  naturally  seem  young, — especially  in  view  of 
his  great  responsibilities  in  being  set  over  so  many  elders.' 

1  Marcion  and  Basilides. 

3  This  remark  applies  also  to  2  Tim,  (i.  a.)  and  Titus  (L  4)1 

8  Equally  groundless  is  the  objection  that  Paul  had  predicted 
to  the  Ephesian  elders  that  "  he  should  see  their  face  no  more  "  (Acts 
XX.  25),  whereas  this  epistle  implies  that  he  had  recently  paid  them 
another  visit.  For  the  words  quoted  contain  the  expression  of  a 
presentiment  or  at  most  of  a  conviction,  not  of  an  inspired  prophecy, 
on  the  part  of  the  apostle  ;  and,  besides,  the  language  of  the  epistle, 
•'  as  I  exhorted  thee  to  tarry  at  Ephesus  when  I  was  going  into 
Macedonia,"  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  writer  himself  had 
been  at  Ephesus.  It  is  quite  possible  he  may  have  exhorted 
Timothy  by  a  message  from  a  distance,  or  have  met  him  at  Miletus 
as  he  had  met  the  Ephesian  elders  several  years  before. 

Again  it  has  been  argued  that  the  instructions  contained  in  this 
epistle  mi^ht  have  been  more  easily  given  by  the  apostle  in  person 
during  his  recent  visit  to  Ephesus,  or  oo  the  subsequent  visit  to 


1    TIMOTHY  107 


To  whom  written.  —  **  Unto  Timothy,  my  true 
child  in  faith."  The  disciple  thus  addressed  was  one  of 
the  apostle's  converts,  and  became  his  dearest  friend  and 
coadjutor  in  the  closing  years  of  his  life.  Of  a  pious 
Jewish  family  by  the  mother's  side — his  father  was  a 
Greek — he  received  a  strict  religious  training  in  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  Testament  (Acts  xvi.  i  ;  2  Tim.  i.  1-5; 
iii.  14-15).  He  seems  to  have  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity during  Paul's  first  visit  to  Lystra  and  Derbe  ;  for 
on  the  apostle's  second  visit  to  that  quarter  about  three 
years  afterwards,  Timothy  was  a  disciple  so  well  reported 
of  by  the  brethren  at  Lystra  and  Iconium  as  to  be 
deemed  worthy  of  being  associated  with  Paul  as  a 
labourer  in  the  Gospel  (Acts  xvi.  1-2;  i  Tim.  i.  2; 
2  Tim.  iii.  lo-ii,  ct  Acts  xiv.  9-21).  To  this  posi- 
tion he  was  duly  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  hands, 
after  being  circumcised  to  render  him  more  acceptable 
to  the  Jews  (Acts  xvi.  3;  i  Tim.  vi.  12;  iv.  14; 
2  Tim.  i.  6).  Thereafter  we  find  him  constantly  as- 
sociated with  the  apostle  either  as  his  companion  or  as 
his  delegate  to  Churches  at  a  distance.  He  was  with 
the  apostle  during  his  first  imprisonment  at  Rome,  being 
associated  with  him  in  three  of  the  four  epistles  which 
Paul  then  wrote  (Phil.,  Col.,  and  Philemon).  From 
this  epistle  we  gather  that  after  the  apostle's  release 
Timothy  was  left  for  a  time  in  charge  of  the  Church  at 
Ephesus  ;  and  it  was  while  in  this  trying  and  responsible 
position  that  he  received  the  two  epistles  that  bear  his 
name. 

Where  and  when  written. —  The  first  epistle 

seems  to  have  been  sent    to  Timothy  from  Macedonia 

which  he  was  stUl  looking  forward  (iii.  14).  But  this  latter  visit  was 
regarded  by  the  apostle  as  very  uncertain  (iii.  15);  while  the  formei 
one,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  very  doubtful  inference  from  i.  3.  Even 
if  it  be  true,  however,  that  the  apostle  had  recently  been  at  Ephesus, 
there  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  supposition  that  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  what  he  then  learned  of  the  condition  of  the  Church,  and 
as  the  result  of  subsequent  reflection,  that  he  was  led  to  furnish 
Timothy  with  these  rules  and  directions  in  a  written  form,  which 
could  be  of  permanent  service,  and  if  necessary  might  be  referred  to 
in  the  haahng  of  the  congregation. 


io8     NEW  TESTAMENT  <5r»  ITS   WRITERS 

under  the  circumstances  referred  to  in  L  3  ;  but  whether 
before  or  after  Paul's  intended  visits  to  Philippi  (Phil, 
ii.  24),  Colossie  (Philemon,  ver.  22),  and  Spain  —  which, 
according  to  an  ancient  tradition  originating  in  the  first 
century,  he  did  visit  (Rom.  xv.  24) — it  is  quite  impossible 
to  say.  Various  routes  have  been  sketched  by  which  Paul 
may  have  travelled  after  his  release  from  Rome,  compris- 
ing visits  to  the  places  just  mentioned  and  also  to  Ephesus, 
Crete  (Tit.  i.  5),  Nicopolis  (Tit.  iii.  12),  and  Troas 
(2  Tim,  iv.  13)  ;  but  they  are  all  more  or  less  con- 
jectural. While  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  precise 
movements  of  the  apostle  after  his  release,  or  the  exact 
year  in  which  this  epistle  was  written,  we  may  safely 
place  it  between  64  A.D.,  the  year  after  Paul's  release, 
and  67  A.D.,  shortly  before  his  death, — the  date  usually 
assigned  to  the  latter  being  68  A.D.,  the  last  year  of 
Nero,  under  whom,  according  to  the  general  tradition, 
Paul  suffered  martyrdom.  The  more  probable  year  is 
67  A.D.,  which  gives  an  interval  of  several  years  to 
account  for  the  change  in  the  apostle's  style  and  in  the 
condition  of  the  Church,  and  makes  the  three  pastoral 
epistles  very  nearly  contemporaneous. 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— These  have  been 

already  indicated  in  the  general  remarks  at  pp.  104,  105. 
The  epistle  is  partly  official,  partly  personal.  Although 
addressed  to  Timothy  individually,  it  contains  Paul's 
apostolic  instructions  to  guide  him  in  the  work  of  super- 
vision assigned  to  him  at  Ephesus  (i.  1-4).  The  antici- 
pations of  evil  which  Paul  had  expressed  to  the  Ephesian 
elders  at  Miletus  (Acts  xx.  29-30)  had  already  in  some 
measure  been  realised,  and  there  was  great  need  for 
wisdom  in  the  rulers  of  the  Church.  It  is  not  easy  to 
trace  any  regular  sequence  in  the  topics  discussed  ;  but 
the  contents  of  the  epistle  may  be  summarised  as 
follows  : — 

The  folly  and  danger  of  the  Judaic  fancies  with  which 
false  teachers  were  overlaying  the  Gospel  (i.);  exhorta 
tions  to  catholicity  of  spirit  as  well  as  to  reverence  and 
decorum    in   acts    of  worship     (ii.)  ;    the   qualifications 


I   TIMOTHY  X09 


requisite  in  the  office-bearers  of  the  Church  (bishops  and 
deacons),  and  the  need  for  fidelity  and  care  on  their  part 
in  view  of  the  increasing  corruption  (iii.) ;  counsels  re- 
garding Timothy's  treatment  of  the  elders  and  other 
classes  in  the  congregation  (iv.-v.)  ;  cautions  against 
covetousness,  and  exhortations  to  the  rich  to  make  a 
good  use  of  their  means — concluding  with  an  appeal  to 
Timothy  to  guard  that  which  was  committed  to  his  trust, 
and  to  avoid  ••  profane  babblings,  and  oppositions  of  the 
knowledge  which  is  falsely  so  called  "  (vi.) 

Although  in  some  respects  on  a  humbler  level  intellect- 
ually than  most  of  Paul's  writings,  and  bearing  traces 
of  the  writer's  advancing  years,  this  epistle  contains  not 
a  few  golden  texts  to  be  held  in  everlasting 

I  i  f.  If  i  JL  r«i  ia.  i< ;  ft  <»  XQ»  aft 


xio     NE  W  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS   WRITERS 


CHAPTER  XVin 

TITUS — 2  TIMOTHY 
«*THE   EPISTLB   OF   PAUL  TO  TITUS  •* 

^ITHO    wrote    it. — To    the    general    remarks    «t 
*'       pp.   104,   105  we  may  add  the  following  notes 
of  genuineness  : — 

(1)  The  quotation  in  i.  12  is  in  accordance  with  the 
manner  of  St  Paul,  who  is  the  only  New  Testament 
writer  that  quotes  heathen  authors  (Acts  xvii.  28  ;  i 
Cor.  XV.  33).  At  the  same  time  the  use  of  the  word 
** prophet  ^^  in  this  passage,  as  compared  with  **poet"  in 
Acts  xvii.  28,  is  against  the  supposition  of  imitation, 

(2)  The  introduction  of  such  unknotun  names  as 
Artemas  and  Zenas,  as  well  as  of  Nicopolis  (iii.  12,  13), 
which  are  mentioned  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  the  unique  designation  of  the  apostle  him- 
self (i.   i),  are  at  variance  with  the  idea  of  forgery. 

To  whom  written,  —  "To  Titus,  my  true  child 
after  a  common  faith "  (i.  4).  Judging  from  the  allu- 
sions to  Titus  in  Paul's  epistles*  he  seems  to  have  been  the 
ablest  and  most  reliable  of  all  the  friends  and  coadjutors 
whom  the  apostle  had  about  him  in  his  later  years.  As 
an  uncircumcised  Gentile  who  had  been  converted  by 
Paul,  he  represented  in  his  own  person  the  breadth  and 
freedom  of  the  Gospel,  for  which  the  apostle  had  so 
cealously  and  successfully  contended. 

1  In  the  Book  of  Acts  Titus  is  never 


TITUS  III 

The  conversion  of  Titus  had  taken  place  at  ft  com- 
paratively early  period  in  the  apostle's  ministry,  for  he 
accompanied  Paul  and  Barnabas  on  their  visit  from 
Antioch  to  Jerusalem  to  vindicate  the  freedom  of  the 
Gentiles  from  the  ceremonial  law  of  the  Jews  (Gal.  ii.  1-4). 

From  the  allusion  to  him  in  the  passage  just  cited  we 
may  infer  that  he  was  well  known  to  the  Galatians  ;  and 
it  is  possible  he  may  have  been  the  labourer  among  them 
referred  to  in  Gal.  iii.  5.  We  find  him  figuring  promi- 
nently at  another  crisis  in  the  apostle's  ministry,  when 
the  strife  and  confusion  in  the  Corinthian  Church 
threatened  to  destroy  the  apostle's  influence.  His  re- 
markable success  in  the  difficult  mission  then  assigned  to 
him  (pp.  66,  67),  which  called  for  the  exercise  of  combined 
firmness  and  tact,  and  from  which  Apollos  appears  to 
have  shrunk  (i  Cor.  xvi.  12),  marked  him  out  as  an 
able  and  trustworthy  delegate,  and  explains  his  selection 
ten  years  later  for  the  important  and  trying  position 
which  he  temporarily  held  in  Crete  when  this  letter  was 
addressed  to  him. 

Of  the  state  of  the  Church  in  Crete  we  know  very  little 
except  what  may  be  gathered  from  this  epistle.  In  all 
probability  the  Gospel  had  been  first  brought  to  the 
island  by  those  of  its  inhabitants  who  witnessed  the  out- 
pouring of  the  spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  ('•  Cretans," 
Acts  ii.  II).  More  than  thirty  years  had  passed  since 
then,  and  there  were  now,  probably,  quite  a  number  of 
congregations  in  the  island,  which  was  140  miles  long 
and  was  famous  for  its  hundred  cities. 

Paul  had  been  there  once  before,  on  his  way  from 
Caesarea  to  Rome  ;  but  being  a  prisoner  at  the  time  he 
could  have  had  little  or  no  opportunity  of  preaching.  It 
may  have  been  on  that  occasion,  however,  that  he  saw 
the  necessity  for  or^^anising  the  various  congregations,  as 
he  was  now  seeking  to  do  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Titus.  It  was  a  difficult  task,  for  the  Cretans  bore  a 
bad  character.  **  Liars,  evil  beasts,  idle  gluttons,"  was 
the  description  given  of  them  by  ••  one  of  themselves  " 
(E^menides.  600  B.& ) — a  testimony  confirmed  by  several 


iia     N£IV  TESTAMENT  (Sr*  ITS    WRITERS 


other  ancient  writers.  They  were  a  mixed  population  of 
Greeks  and  Asiatics,  with  a  considerable  infusion  of 
Jews.  To  the  influence  of  these  latter,  acting  on  native 
superstition,  the  corruption  of  Christian  doctrine,  of 
which  we  hear  in  the  epistle,  appears  to  have  been 
largely  due  (i.  lo,  14 ;  iii.  9).* 

Where  and  when  written. — The  strikmg  resem- 
blance of  this  epistle  to  i  Tim.  justifies  us  in  assigning 
it  to  the  same  year  (say  67  A.D.)  It  may  have  been 
written  in  Asia  Minor  when  the  apostle  was  on  his  way 
to  Nicopolis. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — Although  addressed 

to  a  friend,  this  letter,  like  i  Tim.,  has  to  a  certain  extent 
an  ofScial  character.  This  is  evident  from  the  greeting  : 
•*  Paul,  a  servant  of  God,  and  an  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ .  .  .  "  (i-  1-4)-  It  was  intended  to  furnish  Titus,  as 
the  apostle's  representative  in  Crete,  with  the  same  assist- 
ance in  his  work  as  had  already  been  rendered  to 
Timothy.  From  L  5  it  would  appear  that  the  apostle 
had  heard  of  opposition  being  offered  to  Titus,  and 
desired  to  strengthen  his  hands  for  his  arduous  under- 
taking. With  this  view  he  gives  him  directions  for  the 
appointment  of  properly  -  qualified  presbyters  in  every 
city,  who  should  be  able  and  willing  to  teach  "the 
sound  doctrine,"  and  to  counteract  the  useless  and  un- 
warrantable speculations  of  a  semi-Jewish  character,  in- 
volving endless  controversy,  which  were  propagated  by 
dishonest  self-seeking  teachers.  He  also  reminds  Titus 
of  suitable  exhortations  to  be  addressed  to  the  various 
classes  in  the  Church,  for  the  promotion  of  that  practical 
godliness  which  ought  to  accompany  sound  doctrine. 
Titus  himself  is  admonished  to  show  himself  in  all  things 
"  an  ensample  of  good  works." 

The  epistle  contains  a  number  of  memorable  sayings, 
including  several  of  the  most  comprehensive  statements 
of  Christian  truth  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament 
(iL  11-14;  iii.  4-7).     In  IL  11-14  ^^  ):iaye  an  excellent 

^  In  the  tobseqaent  history  of  the  island,  Titos  has  figured  pro- 
niiiently  as  the  patroo-saint  of  the  commoaity. 


a  TIMOTHY  1x3 


illustration  of  that  **  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godli- 
ness," that  sober-minded  union  of  faith  and  practice, 
which  is  the  ripest  fruit  of  Christianity,  and  which  formi. 
the  chief  burden  of  this  most  salutary  letter. 

The  epistle  concludes  with  some  allusions  to  personal 
Matters  (iii.  12-15),  i°  '^^  course  of  which  Paul  bids 
Titus  come  to  him  at  Nicopolis  as  soon  as  Artemas  01 
Tychicus  has  arrived  to  relieve  him.  This  is  an  arrange- 
ment scarcely  consistent  with  the  view  of  some  Episco 
palian  writers  that  Titus  held  a  permanent  official  posi 
tion  in  the  island. 

"Tmi  SKCOND   EPISTLE  OF   PAUL   THE   AK>tTLX 
TO   timothy" 

Who  wrote  it. — In  several  passages  this  epistle 
bears  the  stamp  of  genuineness  as  a  writing  of  St. 
Paul's,  notably  at  L  5- 18  and  iv.  9-22.  In  particulai 
the  opening  thanksgiving  (i.  3)  is  characteristic  of 
Paul,  eight  of  his  ten  other  epistles  having  a  similar 
commencement.  At  the  same  time  this  is  not  such  a  pro- 
minent feature  as  to  lead  to  imitation  ;  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  is  not  found  in  the  two  other  pastoral  epistles. 

A  strong  proof  of  genuineness  is  afforded  by  the  proper 
nanus  in  the  epistle.  They  are  twenty-three  in  number, 
Including  ten  mentioned  elsewhere.  In  connection  with 
several  of  these  ten,  remarks  are  made  which  a  forger 
would  have  been  very  unlikely  to  invent.  E.g.  *•  Demas 
forsook  me,  having  loved  this  present  world"  (iv.  10, 
cf.  Col.  iv.  14),  is  a  record  more  like  what  we  should 
have  expected  to  find  concerning  Mark,  in  view  of  his 
former  desertion  of  Paul  (Acts  xiii  13)  ;  whereas  we  6nd 
favourable  mention  of  him  in  this  epistle  (iv.  ii). 
Dalmatia  is  also  a  strange  place  to  have  invented  as  a 
destination  for  Titus  (iv.  10).  considering  that  he  had 
been  written  to  so  recentlv  at  Crete.  A  striking  argu 
ment  has  been  derived  frmn  the  occurrence  of  the  namr 
Linus  in  iv.  21.  The  argument  is  based  on  the  fac 
uuit  Linus,  Cletus,  and  Clement  are  the  names  qf  thf 


ri4      NEW  TESTAMENT  <5t-  ITS   WRITERS 

first  three  *♦  bishops"  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  preserved 
in  her  Eucharistic  Service,  dating  from  the  second 
century.  If  the  epistle  had  been  written  in  the  post- 
apostolic  age,  Linus,  it  is  held,  would  have  been  sure  to 
receive  a  more  prominent  place  in  the  list  of  salutations, 
and  his  name  would  have  been  accompanied  with  that  of 
Cletus,  or  at  all  events  with  that  of  Clement,  as  the  latter 
was  believed  to  have  been  an  immediate  disciple  of  Paul. 

These  marks  of  genuineness  are  so  numerous  and 
strikmg  that  this  epistle  is  accepted  by  many  critics  who 
reject  the  two  others.  But  as  the  main  objections  to 
the  latter,  on  the  score  of  their  novel  language  and 
teaching,  and  their  want  of  correspondence  with  the 
Book  of  Acts,  apply  equally  to  2  Tim.,  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  three  epistles  must  stand  or  fall 
together.  Hence  any  argument  for  the  Pauline  author- 
ship of  this  epistle  has  a  reflex  influence  on  that  of  the 
two  others. 

To  whom  written.— "To  Timothy,  my  beloved 
child"  (i.  2),  see  p.  107. 

Where  and  when  written.— From  L  8,  16-18,  it 

is  evident  that  this  epistle  was  written  by  Paul  while  a 
prisoner  at  Rome.  That  it  was  a  different  imprisonment 
from  that  mentioned  in  Acts  xxviii.  may  be  inferred  not 
only  from  the  general  considerations  adduced  on  p.  104, 
but  more  particularly  from  the  apostle's  anticipation  of  a 
fatal  result  (iv.  6-8)  as  compared  with  his  expectation  of 
release  in  Phil.  ii.  24  and  Philemon,  ver.  22.* 

Moreover,  the  difiFerencc  between  Paul's  position  during 

1  The  tame  conclusion  may  be  drawn  fma.  the  fikct  that  Timothy 
was  now  at  a  distance  from  the  apostle  (i.  2),  whereas  he  had  beea 
with  him  when  he  (the  apostle)  wrote  Philippians  (L  i),  Colossians 
(L  i),  and  Philemon  (ver.  i) ;  as  well  as  from  the  absence  of  Demas  and 
Mark  (iv.  lo-ii)  who  had  sent  salutations  from  Rome  in  Col.  iv.  10 
14.  In  this  inference  we  are  further  confirmed  by  iv.  20,  "  Era'V*s 
abode  at  Corinth :  but  Trophimus  I  left  at  Miletus  sick."  On  his 
last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  before  his  imprisonment  at  Rome,  Paul 
was  accompanied  by  Trophimus  from  Miletus  to  Jerusalem  (Acts 
XX.  4, 15  ;  xxL  29)  ;  and  as  Timothy  was  with  Paul  during  his  visit  to 
Corinth,  narrated  in  the  same  chapter,  he  could  not  have  required 
to  be  informed  that  Erastus  had  abode  in  that  dty,  if  it  weie  tl|« 
•MM  occawoo  that  was  refetrcd  to* 


a  TIMOTHY  115 


his  first  imprisonment  (Acts  xxviii.  30-31  ;  PhiL  t  12- 
14)  and  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  this  epistle  (iL  9 ; 
L  15-17  ;  iv.  16)  leads  us  to  the  same  conclusion.  Such 
a  second  imprisonment  was  in  itself  not  at  all  unlikely 
after  the  great  fire  in  64  A.D.,  when  the  Christian 
religion  was  put  under  the  ban  ;  and  we  know  the  apostle 
had  no  lack  of  enemies  to  give  information  against  him. 
If  we  are  right  in  dating  the  first  epistle  67  A.D.,  we 
may  assign  this  one  to  67-68  A.D. 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — We  hare  here  the 
apostle's  last  will  and  testament  in  favour  of  the  Church, 
in  the  form  of  a  farewell  charge  to  his  beloved  child 
Timothy.  He  still  hoped  to  see  him  once  again,  and 
repeatedly  urges  him  to  do  his  best  to  come  to  him 
shortly — "  before  winter,"  while  navigation  is  still  prac- 
ticable (iv.  9,  21).  His  yearning  for  Timothy's  society 
in  his  lonely  prison  reminds  us  of  our  Lord's  desire  for 
the  sympathy  and  prayers  of  His  disciples  on  the  eve  of 
His  Passion ;  and  in  this  epistle,  as  in  our  Lord's 
teaching  during  the  week  preceding  His  death,  there 
b  blended  with  a  sublime  confidence  in  the  speaker's 
own  future,  dark  foreboding  of  approaching  trial  and 
temptation  for  the  Church.  He  warns  Timothy  of  the 
"grievous  times"  to  come  (iii.  i),  and  exhorts  him  to 
adhere  steadfastly  to  the  teaching  he  had  received  from 
the  apostle  on  the  foundation  of  the  Scripture  *'  inspired 
of  God,"  and  to  take  security  for  such  teaching  being 
«»ntinued  by  "  faithful  men  who  shall  be  able  to  teach 
others  also  " — bidding  Timothy  emulate  his  own  example 
in  the  endurance  of  hardship  and  in  the  practice  of  self- 
denial  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel 

A  peculiarity  of  this  as  of  the  other  pastoral  epistles 
is  the  introduction  of  short  and  weighty  sayings  with  the 
words,  "Faithful  is  the  saying."  In  ii.  II-13  we  have 
what  is  probably  part  of  a  Christian  hymn,  expressing  the 
faith  in  which  the  apostle  would  have  Timothy  to  meet 
his  tzial& 


ii6     AAK/   ThiiIAMh.Nr  is'  ITS    WRITERS 


CHAPTER   XIX 
••the  epistle  or  paul  the  apostle  to  thb 

HEBREWS  * 

\  lyHO  wrote  it. — This  is  a  question  which  cannot 
^^  be  answered  with  any  degree  of  certainty.  The 
earliest  witness  on  the  subject  b  Pantaenus  of  Alexan- 
dria, in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  who  assigned 
the  epistle,  as  Eusebius  tells  us,  to  the  apostle  PauL 
In  keeping  with  this  opinion  we  find  that  the  Eastern 
Church  generally  regarded  it  as  the  work  of  Paul ;  but 
some  of  the  most  learned  of  its  bishops  and  teachers 
were  constrained  by  internal  evidence  to  depart  some- 
what  from  the  traditional  view.  Their  idea  was  that 
Paul  might  have  written  the  original,  and  one  of  his 
disciples  have  translated  it  into  Greek ;  or  that  the 
apostle  might  have  supplied  the  thoughts,  and  some 
disciple  have  put  them  into  words.  In  this  sense  Origm 
maintains  that  the  thoughts  were  worthy  of  the  apostle* 
but  "  who  it  was  that  wrote  the  epistle,  God  knows." 

The  opinion  of  the  Western  Church  was  for  a  l(M)g 
time  adverse  to  the  Pauline  authorship.  Clement  of 
Rome,  who  wrote  before  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
frequently  quotes  the  epistle,  but  never  claims  for  it  the 
authority  of  PauL  If  he  believed  that  the  epistle  was 
written  by  Paul,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  ignor- 
ance of  the  Roman  Church  on  the  subject  in  succeeding 
generations — all  the  more  so  because  of  the  connection 
of  the  epistle  with  Italy  (xiii.  34).     It  was  not  till  the 


HBBRE  WS 


117 


close  of  the  fourth  century,  and  in  spite  of  its  traditions 
to  the  contrary,  that  the  Western  Church  accepted  the 
epistle  as  a  writing  of  Paul's.^ 

Even  if  the  external  testimony  in  favour  of  the  Paul- 
ine authorship  were  much  stronger  than  it  is,  a  study  of 
th€  style  and  structure  of  the  book  would  compel  us  to 
adopt  a  different  view.  Instead  of  the  rugged,  impetuous, 
and  occasionally  disjointed  style  of  the  apostle,  we  have 
here  polished  diction  and  carefully-constructed  sentences. 
•*Th€  movement  of  this  writer  resembles  that  of  sm  ori- 
ental sheikh  with  his  robes  of  honour  wrapped  around 
him  ;  the  movement  of  St.  Paul  is  that  of  an  athlete 
girded  for  the  race.  The  eloquence  of  this  writer,  even 
when  it  is  at  its  most  majestic  volume,  resembles  the 
flow  of  a  river  ;  the  rhetoric  of  St.  Paul  is  like  the  rush 
of  a  mountain  torrent  amid  opposing  rocks."  On  account 
of  this  general  dissimilarity  of  style,  as  well  as  because  of 
many  well-marked  differences  in  detail, *  the  idea  that 
Paul  wrote  this  epistle  has  now  been  generally  aban 
doned.  Nor  can  we  even  regard  it  as  the  translation 
of  a  Hebrew  work  of  the  apostle's.  Not  only  is  it 
possessed  of  such  a  rhetorical  grace  and  finish  as  is 
scarcely  attainable  in  a  translation,  but  in  several  other 
respects  it  bears  unmistakable  tokens    of   having  beer. 

1  Bm  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  Westminster  Confessim: 
does  not  include  it  among  St.  Paul's  epistles. 

>  (1)  There  is  in  this  epistle  a  marked  absence  of  the  opening 
otlutation  and  thanksgiving  usual  with  St.  Paul. 

(2)  There  is  an  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  writer  that 
he  and  his  readers  were  indebted  in  some  measure  for  their  know- 
ledge of  the  Gospel  to  "  them  that  heard  "  the  Lord  (ii.  3),  whereas 
Paul  repudiated  for  himself  any  such  dependence  on  the  testimonv 
of  others  (Gal.  L  ir-17). 

(3)  In  quoting  from  the  Old  Testament  the  writer  of  this  epistle 
makes  use  of  such  phrases  as  "God  saith,"  "the  Holy  Spirit 
saith,    "he  testifieth, '  which  are  not  found  in  St.  Paul's  writings. 

(4)  He  invariably  quotes  from  the  Septuagint  in  its  Alexandrian 
MS.,  without  regard  to  the  Hebrew,  whereas  Paul  often  corrects 
the  Septuagint  by  the  Hebrew,  and  when  he  quotes  from  the  Greek 
version,  follows  the  text  found  in  the  Vatican  MS. 

(?)  ^e  never  designates  the  Saviour  as  "  oar  Lord  Jesus 
Chnst"  or  "Christ  Jesus  our  Lord"  (expressions  which  occur 
n^ly  seventy  times  in  Paul's  epistles),  but  gcneraliy  speaks  of 
Hun  •«  "  Jesos,"  or  "  Chrirt,"  or '^the  Lord." 


ii8      NEW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS   WRITERS 

originally  written  in  Greek.^  But  although  we  cannot 
assign  the  epistle  to  St.  Paul,  this  need  not  impair  oui 
sense  of  its  value  as  an  acknowledged  portion  of  the  New 
Testament.  Its  value  is  independent  of  its  human 
authorship.  **  If  it  should  be  found  that  a  noble  pic- 
ture which  had  been  attributed  to  Raphael  was  not  by 
that  artist,  there  would  not  be  one  masterpiece  the  less, 
but  one  great  master  the  more." 

While  the  evidence  is  conclusive  against  the  epbtle 
having  been  written  by  Paul,  there  is  yet  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  was  the  work  of  one  of  PauVs  school.  The 
writer  appears  to  be  acquainted  with  some  of  Paul's 
epistles.*  He  uses  many  words  which  are  found  no- 
where in  the  New  Testament  except  in  Paul's  writings, 
or  in  his  speeches  as  reported  by  Luke ;  and  he  refen 
to  Timothy  as  a  personal  friend  (xiii.  23). 

By  which  of  Paul's  friends  or  associates  the  letter  was 
written  it  is  difficult  to  say.  Neither  Clement  nor  Luke 
(whose  names  were  suggested  as  early  as  the  third  cen- 
tury) can  have  been  the  author,  so  greatly  do  their  stylet 
differ  from  that  of  the  epistle.  Luther's  conjecture  that 
ApoUos  may  have  been  the  writer  is  favoured  by  the 
description  of  the  latter  in  Acts  xviii.  24-28,  viewed  in 
connection  with  the  internal  characteristics  of  the  epistle. 
But  if  Apollos  was  the  writer,  it  is  difficult  to  account 
for  the  complete  disappearance  of  his  name  from  the 
traditions  of  the  Church,  more  especially  in  the  East. 

There  is  another  name,  in  itself  not  at  all  an  improb- 
able one,  for  which  we  have  the  authority  of  Tertullian  of 
Carthage,  who  wrote  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  century. 
That  presbyter  refers  to  Barnabas  as  the  author  of  the 
epistle,  in  terms  which  imply  that  this  was  no  new  sup- 
position ;  and  his  testimony  is  all  the  more  important 

1  It  has  numerous  plays  on  Greek  words,  and  contains  expres- 
sions that  have  no  equivalent  in  Hebrew  j  it  makes  its  Old  Testa- 
ment quotations  direct  from  the  Septua^nt,  in  some  cases  even 
building  an  argument  on  forms  of  expression  which  do  not  occur  in 
the  Hebrew. 

^  3  Cf.  iL  8  and  x  Cor.  xv.  37 ;  u.  xo  and  Rom.  xL  36 ;  u.  14,  * 
Tim.  L  xo  and  x  Cor.  xv.  36 ;  v.  X3-14  and  i  Cor.  iiL  a ;  vL  10  and 
s  Then.  L  3 ;  z.  30  amd  Rom.  xii.  19 ;  xii.  14  and  Rom.  xiL  it. 


HEBRE  WS  1 19 


because  he  had  been  at  one  time  resident  in  Rome  and 
knew  what  was  the  current  belief  of  the  Church  there. 
In  many  respects  the  name  of  Barnabas  answers  the 
requirements  of  the  case.  As  a  Jewish  Christian  who 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  apostles  and  was  on  inti- 
mate terms  with  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  of  which  he 
had  been  an  early  benefactor  ;  as  a  Levite,  familiar  with 
the  usages  and  customs  of  the  Jewish  sanctuary  ;  as  a 
native,  and  frequent  visitor,  of  Cyprus,  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  Hellenistic  literature  to  be  able  to  preach 
to  Hellenists,  and  at  one  time  (according  to  an  ancient 
tradition)  a  teacher,  like  his  nephew  Mark,  at  Alexandria, 
with  which  Cyprus  was  closely  connected  ;  as  a  good 
man  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith,  whose  sur- 
name of  Barnabas,  *' son  of  exhortation"  (conferred  on 
him  by  the  apostles),  marked  him  out  as  a  man  of  great 
persuasive  influence  : — in  all  these  respects  this  Church- 
leader  was  well  fitted  to  be  the  writer  of  a  "  word  of 
exhortation"  (xiiL  22) — in  the  Greek  language  and  after 
the  Alexandrian  mode  of  thought — to  the  wavering  and 
distracted  Hebrews  (Acts  iv.  36,  37  ;  ix.  26,  27  ;  xL  19- 
30 ;  xiil   I  ;  xv.  39). 

To  whom  "written. — "To  the  Hebrews."  We 
have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  part  of  the  superscrip- 
tion— which  probably  formed  the  whole  of  the  original — 
gives  a  correct  indication  of  the  readers  for  whom  the 
epistle  was  intended.  The  whole  tenor  of  the  epistle 
implies  that  it  was  written  iox  Jewish  Christians.  But 
various  allusions  show  that  it  was  not  intended  merely 
for  Hebrew  Christians  in  general,  but  for  some  definite 
community  {9.  11-12  ;  vi.  9-10;  x.  32-34  ;  xiii.  I,  7,  19, 
23.  ^Tiich  of  the  Hebrew  communities,  in  particular, 
is  addressed  has  been  much  disputed.  Alexandria, 
Antioch,  Ephesus,  Rome,  have  all  been  suggested. 
5ut  from  the  way  in  which  the  Gentiles  are  entirely 
ignored  in  the  epistle — the  word  "people,"  which  fre- 
quently occurs,  being  always  used  to  designate  the  Jews — 
it  would  seem  most  probable  that  the  letter  was  intended 
for  Christians  in  Jerusalem  or  in  some  other  part  of 


lao     NRW  TESTAMENT  &*  ITS   WRITERS 

PaUstim.  It  was  only  in  Palestine  that  Churches  were 
to  be  found  entirely  composed  of  Jewish  Christians ;  and 
the  troubles  that  overtook  these  congregations  soon 
afterwards  in  connection  with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
would  go  far  to  account  for  the  ignorance  and  uncer- 
tainty of  the  early  Church  as  to  the  authorship  and  the 
original  destination  of  this  epistle.  Moreover,  it  was  in 
Palestine  that  the  temptations  to  relapse  into  Judaism^ 
against  which  the  writer  is  so  anxious  to  guard  his  readers, 
were  most  formidable.  The  sacerdotal  splendour  of  the 
ancient  sanctuary  threw  into  the  shade  the  simple  forms  of 
Christian  worship  ;  and  the  flames  of  patriotic  zeal  burned 
more  fiercely  in  the  Holy  Land  than  among  the  Jews  of  the 
Dispersion.  The  Hebrew  Christians  residing  there  must 
have  felt  themselves  more  and  more  under  the  necessity 
of  choosing  between  their  country  and  their  faith,  between 
a  rcToIt  against  the  Romans  and  a  patient  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  Saviour.  Exposed  to  persecution  and 
excommunication  at  the  hands  of  their  fanatical  and 
exasperated  countrymen,  deeply  attached  to  the  religion 
of  their  fathers  and  with  a  strong  love  of  outward 
ceremonial,  disappointed  by  the  delay  of  the  Second 
Coming  and  by  the  rejection  of  the  Gospel  on  the  part 
of  so  many  of  their  kindred,  they  stood  in  ui^ent  need 
of  the  consolations  and  the  warnings  which  are  addressed 
to  them  in  this  epistle. 

Where  and  when  written. — The  only  clue  to 

guide  us  as  to  the  place  of  writing  is  to  be  found  at 
chap.  xiii.  24  :  ''They  of  Italy  salute  you."  This  may 
either  mean  that  the  writer  was  sending  greetings  from 
the  Church  in  Italy,  or  from  Italian  Christians  resident  in 
some  foreign  city  from  which  he  wrote.  On  the  whole, 
the  former  seems  the  more  natural  interpretation.  If  it 
be  adopted,  we  may  suppose  the  writer  to  have  been 
waiting  in  some  Italian  city  for  the  arrival  of  Timothy 
after  his  liberation  from  imprisonment  at  Rome  (xiii.  23). 
On  this  supposition  the  date  of  the  epistle  would  be 
about  68  A.D.,  which  tallies  with  other  indications  of 
time  in  the  epistle.      That  it  was  written  before  the  Fall 


HhBKE  WS 


of  Jerusalem  is  evident  not  only  from  the  allusions  to  tht 
sacrificial  system  as  still  going  on  (x.  2-3,  etc.)  and  to  tht- 
old  covenant  as  "becoming  old  "  and  ♦'  nigh  unto  vanish 
ing  away"  (viii.  13),  but  still  more  perhaps  from  the 
absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  destruction  of  the  Temple. 
That  event,  if  it  had  already  occurred,  would  have  rendered 
superfluous  any  other  proof  of  the  transitory  and  imper- 
fect nature  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation. 

Its  Chaxacter  and  Contents. — In  many  respects 

this  book  has  more  of  the  character  of  a  treatise  than  of 
a  letter.  Its  great  theme  is  the  superiority  of  Chris- 
tianity to  Judaism.  This  superiority  it  proves  not  so 
much  by  minimising  the  old  covenant  —  which  Paul 
had  been  obliged  to  do  in  vindicating  the  freedom  of 
his  Gentile  converts — as  by  magnifying  the  new  in  the 
sense  of  its  being  a  fulfilment  of  the  old. 

The  epistle  may  be  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first 
mainly  of  an  argumentative  or  expository  character 
(L-x.  18),  the  second  chiefly  hortatory  and  practical 
(x.  19-xiii.) 

(l)  In  the  former  the  writer  seeks  to  establish  the 
supremacy  of  Christ  and  of  the  Christian  Dispensation. 
After  the  opening  statement  (L  1-3)  as  to  the  divine 
revelation  being  completed  and  concentrated  in  the 
•*Son,"  he  proceeds  to  show  His  superiority  to  the 
angels,  through  whom  the  Law  was  believed  to  have 
been  given  (i.-ii-),  to  Moses  (iii.),  and  to  Joshua 
(ir.)  But  hb  main  efforts  are  directed  to  proving  His 
superiority  and  that  of  His  religion  to  the  sacerdotal 
system  of  the  Jews.  In  v.-vii.  he  shows  that  Christ, 
while  possessing  in  common  with  Aaron  all  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  true  priest,  belongs  to  a  higher  order  of 
priesthood,  represented  not  by  Aaron  but  by  Melchizedek. 
In  the  story  of  the  meeting  of  Melchizedek  with 
Abraham  (Gren.  xiv.  18-20)  and  the  prophetic  allusions 
to  the  former  (Ps.  ex.  4)  he  finds  many  reasons  of  an 
allegorical  nature  to  justify  this  view.  He  represents  the 
Head  of  the  Christian  Church  as  the  possessor  of  an  un- 
changeable priesthood,  secured  by  the  divine  oath — not 


laa     NBW  TESTAMENT  ^  ITS  WRITERS 

transitory,  bat  permanent— exercised  not  on  earth  but  in 
heaven— constituted  **  not  after  the  law  of  a  carnal  com- 
mandment, but  after  the  power  of  an  endless  life."  In 
viii.-x.  1 8,  a  similar  superiority  is  proved  to  belong  to 
the  Christian  Dispensation^  with  its  law  written  on  the 
heart,  and  its  sacrifice  offered  "once  for  all"  in  a 
'•  tabernacle  not  made  with  hands,"  whereby  Christ 
hath  "through  his  own  blood  "  •* obtained  eternal  redemp- 
tion." 

(2)  In  the  course  of  the  ai|^ment  occasional  exhorta- 
tions and  warnings  are  introduced  (ii  1-4  ;  iii.  7-13  ;  iv. 
11-16;  V.  12 -vi.  20).  But  the  practical  application 
is  mainly  reserved  for  the  concluding  chapters,  x.  19- 
xiii.  After  exhorting  his  readers  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  "  new  and  living  way  "  which  has  been  thus  conse- 
crated for  them  into  "  the  holy  place,"  and  warning 
them  against  the  terrible  consequences  of  apostasy,  he 
comforts  their  hearts  with  the  assurance  that  though  they 
may  be  disowned  by  the  sacerdotal  leaders  at  Jerusalem, 
they  are  in  the  true  line  of  fellowship  with  the  saints 
and  holy  men  of  old,  whose  devotion  had  been  shown,  not 
by  the  observance  of  an  outward  ceremonial,  but  \)y  faith 
in  the  unseen  (xi. )  In  the  next  chapter,  after  exhorting 
them  to  patience  under  their  trials  through  the  sustaining 
power  of  God's  fatherly  love,  he  introduces  a  striking 
contrast  between  the  terrors  of  Sinai  and  the  attractive 
glories  of  Mount  Zion.  In  the  last  chapter  (xiii.)  he 
gives  a  number  of  salutary  counsels  and  admonitions,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  calls  upon  his  readers  to  go  forth 
unto  Jesus  (as  it  were)  "without  the  camp,  bearing  his 
reproach,"  remembering  that  Jesus  Himself  "suffered 
without  the  gate. "  He  alludes  to  the  sacrifices  of  praise 
and  well-doing  which  are  required  of  the  Christian,  and 
bids  his  readers  "  obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over 
(them),  and  submit  to  them."  The  epistle  concludes 
with  a  beautiful  benediction,  and  a  £ew  last  words  of  per* 
•ooal  explanation  and  greeting. 


/AME5  laQ 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE   CATHOLIC    EPISTLES 

THERE  are  seven  epistles  which  from  the  fonrth 
century  have  gone  under  the  name  of  the  Catholic 
(or  General)  Epistles,  viz.  James;  I  and  2  Peter;  i,  3, 
3  John ;  and  Jude.  They  were  so  called  in  contra- 
distinction to  Paul's  epistles,  which,  with  the  exception 
of  the  pastoral  epistles,  are  addressed  to  individual 
Churches^  also  seven  in  number.  In  most  of  the  Greek 
MSS.  the  Catholic  epistles  stand  next  to  the  Book  of 
Acts,  although  they  were  much  later  than  the  epistles 
of  Paul  in  obtaining  general  recognition  in  the  Church. 

«*THE    GENERAL    EPISTLE   OF  JAMES*** 

In  common  with  four  other  of  the  Catholic  epistles, 
viz.  2  Peter,  2  and  3  John,  and  Jude,  this  epistle  is 
described  by  Eusebius  (about  325  A.D.)  as  a  disputed 
book  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  sense  of  not  being 
universally  acknowledged  by  the  Church. 

In  the  fourth  century  the  claims  of  these  and  other 
writings  to  a  place  in  the  New  Testament  Canon  were 
carefully  sifted,  the  result  being  to  vindicate  the  char- 
acter of  each  of  the  disputed  epistles  (as  appears  from  the 
Decrees  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  364  A.D.,  and  of 

^  Thf*  Hebrew  original  of  this  name  is  Jacob 


124     NE  W  TESTAMENT  b'  ITS    WRITERS 

Carthage,  397  A.D.),  while  a  number  of  other  books 
which,  although  not  in  the  New  Testament,  had  been 
read  in  church  along  with  them  were  finally  disallowed. 

With  regard  to  the  Epistle  of  James  in  particular  the 
rarity  of  allusions  to  it  in  the  early  Christian  writers^ 
may  be  accounted  for  by  its  circulation  being  confined  to 
Jewish  Christians,  as  well  as  by  the  narrow  sphere  of 
labour  in  which  the  writer  himself  moved,  his  life 
apparently  having  been  entirely  spent  in  Jerusalem. 

The  internal  evidence  of  the  book  is  entirely  in  its 
favour,  and  it  is  now  generally  admitted  to  be  a  genuine 
work  of  "James,  the  Lord's  brother"  (GaL  L  19),  who 
presided  for  many  years  over  the  Church  at  Jerusalem, 
(i)  The  writer's  modest  designation  of  himself — •'  James, 
a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  is  against 
the  idea  of  forgery.  (2)  The  epistle  was  evidently 
written  for  Jewish  Christians  by  one  of  themselves.  It 
speaks  of  Abraham  as  **our  father"  (ii.  21) ;  it  calls  the 
readers'  place  of  worship  •'  your  synagogue  *'  (il  2,  R.  V.) , 
it  calls  God  •♦  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  "  (v.  4) ;  it  takes  for 
granted  an  acquaintance  with  Old  Testament  characters 
(ii.  25;  V.  10,  17);  it  alludes  to  Jewish  forms  of  oath 
(v.  12)  ;  it  refers  to  "the  law  "as  still  binding  (iL  8-1 1  ; 
iv.  II);  and  it  contains  no  allusions  to  those  sins  of  the 
flesh  which  figure  so  prominently  in  epistels  meant  for 
Gentile  readers.  (3)  It  bears  traces  of  having  been 
written  by  a  native  of  Palestine — in  its  allusions  to 
**the  scorching  wind"  (i.  ii),  the  sea  (L  6;  iil  4), 
••sweet  water  and  bitter"  (the  latter  referring  to  the 
brackish  springs  of  the  country,  iii.  II-12);  the  vine, 
olive,  and  fig  (iii.  12);  "the  early  and  latter  rain" 
(v.  7).  (4)  It  shows  a  familiar  acquaintance  with 
Christ's  teaching,  although  in  doing  so  it  does  not  use 
precisely  the  language  of  our  Gospels.*     (5)  It  reflects 

1  The  earliest  express  quotation  from  this  epistle  is  fonnd  in  the 
writings  of  Origen  ;  but  the  language  of  Clement  of  Rome,  and  still 
more  clearly  of  Hennas,  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  it  was  known 
to  these  waters.  Still  more  significant  is  the  fact  that  it  has  a  place 
b  the  ancient  Synac  Version  (the  Peschito). 

>  C£  1.5, 6 and  Markxi  23;  i.  as  and  Joho xUL  17;  iLsandLok* 


JAMBS  1*5 


A  state  of  Jewish  society,  the  rich  oppressing  the  poor, 
vhich  in  a  great  manner  ceased  to  exist  after  the 
rebellion  that  terminated  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
With  regard  to  the  author's  personal  history  the 
following  points  may  be  noted.  He  and  his  brothers 
Joses,  Simon,  and  Jude  (Matt.  xiii.  55  ;  Mark  vi  3) 
were  either  the  children  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  and 
younger  brothers  of  our  Lord,  or  else  they  were  the 
children  of  Joseph  by  a  former  marriage.  The  latter 
supposition  seems  the  more  probable,  both  because  it  is 
in  harmony  with  the  earliest  traditions  of  antiquity,  and 
because  it  helps  to  explain  the  attitude  of  James  and  his 
brothers  towards  Jesus  during  His  lifetime  (Matt.  xii.  46 
•md  John  vii.  3-5),  and  the  committal  of  Mary  to  the 
keeping,  not  of  her  stepsons,  but  of  the  Apostle  John 
(John  xix.  26).  We  find  that  at  an  advanced  period  in 
our  Lord's  ministry  His  brethren  did  not  believe  in  Him 
(John  vii.  5) ;  but  immediately  after  the  Ascension  they 
are  associated  with  the  disciples  in  the  upper  room 
'.A.ct8  i.  14). 

According  to  a  tradition,  which  we  have  no  reason  to 
lis  believe,  their  conversion  was  due  to  the  appearance 
of  the  risen  Lord  to  James,  which  is  mentioned  i  Cor. 
XV.  7.  Among  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem  James  soon 
took  a  prominent  place,  being,  indeed,  the  recognised 
head  of  the  Church  there  after  the  death  of  James,  the 
brother  of  John  (44  A.D.),  and  the  dispersion  of  the 
other  apostles.  This  commanding  position  he  owed 
partly,  no  doubt,  to  the  special  relation  in  which  he 
stood  to  Jesus,  and  partly  to  his  own  high  character, 
which  procured  for  him  the  name  of  the  Just  (or 
Righteous)  and  Obliam  ("the  bulwark  of  the  people  "). 
He  is  said  to  have  been  a  Nazarite,  and  so  much  given 
to  prayer  in  the  Temple  that  his  knees  had  grown  hard 
like  those  of  a  cameL  He  was  essentially  a  Hebrew  of 
the  Hebrews,  who  clung  to  the  law  and  the  prophet*, 
and  valued  the  Gospel  as  their  ftilfilment     Hence  hii 

n.  ao;  hr.  gand  LoImvL  as;  iv.  10  and  Matt,  ssifi.  s»t  «.  la  aad 
lfatt.T.  V. 


u6     NEW  TESTAMENT  6-  ITS    WRITERS 

name  was  sometimes  used  by  the  Judaising  party  in 
opposition  to  Paul  (Gal.  ii.  12  ;  cf.  Acts  xv.  24) — as 
indeed  it  continued  to  be  long  after  his  death  ^ — although 
he  himself  recognised  Paul  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  did  not  insist  on  a  full  observance  of  the  law  bj 
Gentile  converts  (Gal.  11  9;  Acts  xv.  19-21,  25-26). 
He  died  a  death  of  martyrdom,  being  stoned  by  the 
Jews — as  Josephus  and  Hegesippus  relate — shortly  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  on  accoimt  of  his  testimony 
to  Jesus  as  the  Messiah. 

To  whom  written, — "  To  the  twelve  tribes  which 
are  of  the  Dispersion"  (i.  l).  In  view  of  the  Jewish 
traits  in  the  epistle,  which  have  been  already  pointed 
oat,  and  having  regard  to  the  migratory  habits  of  the 
readers  (iv.  13),  there  is  no  reason  to  take  these  opening 
words  in  any  other  than  a  literal  sense.  Jews  of  the 
Dispersion  were  to  be  found  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
world,  as  appears  from  Acts  iL  5-1 1.  The  expression 
there  used  to  describe  the  pilgrims  who  came  up  to 
Jerusalem,  "devout  men  from  every  nation  under 
heaven,"  is  supported  by  the  evidence  of  many  in- 
dependent witnesses,  such  as  Philo  and  Josephus. 
These  exiled  Jews  were  chiefly  located  in  Babylon, 
Syria,  and  Egypt ;  and  it  was  probably  to  those  re- 
sident in  Syria  that  copies  of  this  epistle  would  be  first 
lent  The  epistle  is  addressed  to  Christian  Jews  (iL  i, 
7  ;  T.  7-8),  of  whom  there  were  many  in  Syria  liable  to 
persecution  and  violence  similar  to  that  which  Saul  was 
inflicting  on  the  Christians  previous  to  his  conversion  ; 
ct  ii  6-7  and  Acts  ix.  1-2.  While  addressing  himself 
mainly  to  Christian  readers  the  writer  seems  also  to  have 
occasionally  in  view  his  unbelieving  countrymen.  The 
denunciations  in  v.  1-6  may  be  regarded  as  an  apos^rsphe 
to  the  wealthy  unbelievers,  chiefly  of  the  sect  of  the 
Sadducees,  who  truckled  to  the  Romans  and  oppressed 
their  poorer  brethren,  especially  those  who  professed 
Christianity.  James  would  have  many  opportunities  of 
hearing  of  the  trials  which  beset  his  believing  coimtrymeo 
&  Ib  tbt^o-caOed)  Ckmentim  Htmilin  and  Rtngnitwm. 


JAMES  uf 

in  their  distant  homes ;  and,  as  he  seem*  never  to  hare 
left  Jerusalem,  it  was  natural  that  under  a  sense  of  the 
high  responsibility  attaching  to  his  position  he  should  wish 
to  address  them  in  writing  as  he  does  in  this  epistle. 

Where  and  when  written.— Both  Scriptureand  tra 
dition  concur  in  representing  James  as  having  constantly 
resided  at  Jerusalem,  so  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  letter  emanated  from  that  city.  With  r^ard  to  the 
date  of  its  composition  there  is  less  certainty.  That  it 
was  written  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  66  a.  D.,  which 
put  an  end  to  the  Sadducean  ascendency,  is  generally 
admitted.  We  may  also  infer,  from  the  absence  of  any 
allusions  to  the  sharp  controversy  regarding  the  obligations 
of  the  Jewish  law  on  Gentile  converts  which  gave  rise  to 
the  Council  of  Jerusalem  (50  A.D.),  that  it  was  not  written 
either  at  that  time  or  for  several  years  afterwards. 

On  the  whole,  considering  the  marked  absence  from 
the  epistle  of  anything  like  developed  Christian  doctrine, 
the  continued  expectation  which  it  exhibits  of  Christ's 
speedy  coming  to  judge  the  world  (v.  8),  and  the  appli- 
cation  of  the  term  Synagogue  to  an  assembly  of  Christian 
worshippers  (ii.  2),  we  are  justified  in  assigning  to  the 
epistle  a  very  early  date — say  44-49  a,  D.  If  this  supposi- 
tion be  correct,  we  have  here  the  oldest  book  of  the  New 
Testament 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— This  epistle  is  Usi 

doctrinal  or  theological  than  any  other  in  the  New  Testa- 
menL  It  partakes  largely  of  the  character  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  which  it  resembles,  not  only  in  its  general 
tone  and  sentiment,  but  in  many  of  its  expressions.  *  Its 
tone  is  eminently  practual,  the  object  of  the  writer  being 
to  inculcate  Christian  morality  as  essential  to  salvation 
{t.g.  XL  14.26).  But  it  gives  a  prominent  place  to  faith 
and  patience  {e.g.  I  2-12),  and  includes  in  its  good  works 
the  careftil  ruling  of  the  tongue  (iil  1-12).     It  also  dwells 

1  Ct  La  and  Matt.  ▼.  10-12 ;  L  4  and  Matt.  t.  48  ;  L  5  and  Matt, 
vfi.  7-12.;  u  ao  and  Matt  v.  22  ;  iL  13  and  Matt,  rl  14.15  ;  fi.  14  aad 
Matt,  viu  21.33 ;  »v.  4  and  Matt.  vL  24 :  nr.  10  and  Matt.  ▼.  w ;  iv. 
u  and  Matt.  vu.  r-5  ;  ▼.  a  and  Matt,  vl  19;  %  m  mkI  Mate  ^  sal 
f*  8S  aiMi  Matt.  T.  34-37. 


138     NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

much  on  the  wisdom^  which  should  characterise  the 
religious  man  {e.g.  iii.  13-18),  and  refers  in  detail  to 
many  other  forms  of  duty — Christi<in  practice  being  to 
the  writer  the  highest  form  of  outward  worship  (L  27). 
The  .tyle  of  the  epistle  is  sententious  and  forcible,  passing 
swiftly,  and  sometimes  without  any  apparent  Ic^cal  forma- 
tion, from  one  topic  to  another,  and  it  has  about  it  not  a 
little  of  the  vehemence  and  fervour  of  the  old  prophets. 
James  does  not  hesitate  to  denounce  in  very  strong  and 
plain  terms,  which  savour,  in  some  respects,  of  the 
language  of  Amos,*  the  greed  and  cruelty  of  the  rich, 
the  servility  of  the  poor,  and  the  general  vanity,  strife, 
h3rpocrisy,  and  worldly-mindedness  which  were  character* 
istic  of  Ae  Jews  at  tWs  period  of  their  history,  and  had 
begun  to  infect  the  Christians  in  their  midst. 

He  insists  on  character  as  the  test  of  true  religion,  and 
demands  that  a  man  shall  show  the  reality  of  his  faith  by 
his  life  and  conduct  In  his  protests  against  an  empty 
profession  of  religion,  he  is  led  into  the  use  of  language 
which  has  sometimes  been  supposed  (by  Luther,  for 
exampre)  to  be  irreconcilably  at  variance  with  the  teach* 
ing  of  Paul.'  But  in  reality  there  is  no  such  incon- 
sistency beween  them. 

The  good  works  which  James  contends  for  are  alto- 
gether different  from  the  ritualistic  observances  which  Paul 
refused  to  acknowledge  as  necessary  for  salvation ;  the 
justification  he  has  in  view  in  this  epistle  is  not  the  initial 
admission  into  the  Divine  favour  which  Paul's  Gentile 
converts  needed,  but  the  continuance  of  God's  people  in 
a  state  of  grace  to  which  they  are  already  called  ;  while 
the  faith  which  he  depreciates  is  not  that  personal  union 
with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  Paul  declared  to  be  all 
important  for  the  Christian,  but  mere  intellectual  belief, 
such  as  the  acceptance  of  the  monotheistic  doctrine  (iL  19) 

1  Hence  James  has  been  called  "  the  Apostle  of  Wisdom  " ;  and  the 
designation  given  to  him  in  the  Greek  liturgy  is  that  of  **  James  the 
Wise." 

'  Cf.  iv.  13,  T.  i-a  and  Amos  viiL  5,  10 ;  t.  j  and  Amos  vL  !•€. 

S  It  may  have  beeo  the  language  of  James  iL  10  that  ga 
tQ  the  misrepresentations  referred  *>n  in  Acts  zv.  S4. 


JAMES  I2(, 


that  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the  Jewish  faith.  No  one 
can  read  Romans  il  17-24  without  seeing  that  Paul 
would  have  concurred  most  heartily  in  all  that  this 
epistle  says  about  the  necessity  for  carrying  religion  into 


xy>     NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 


CHAPTER   XXI 

•the  first  epistle  general  of  pbtek' 

T^HERE  is  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that  this 
-^  epistle  was  written  by  the  apostle  whose  name  it 
bears.  Hardly  any  book  of  the  New  Testament  is  better 
supported  by  external  evidence  (extending  as  far  back  as 
the  writings  of  Polycarp  in  the  early  part  of  the  second 
century),  while  internally  it  bears  in  many  of  its  features 
the  stamp  of  Peter's  mind,  and  the  traces  of  his  experi- 
ence, as  these  are  represented  to  as  in  the  Gospels  and 
in  the  Book  of  Acts. 

From  these  sources  we  learn  that  the  apostle  was 
originally  called  «*  Simon,  the  son  of  John,"  and  that 
he  was  a  fisherman  of  Bethsaida  before  he  attached  him- 
self to  Jesus.  With  his  brother  Andrew,  who  brought 
him  to  Jesus,  he  was  a  disciple  of  John  the  Baptist  before 
finding  the  Messiah.  At  His  very  first  interview  with 
the  new  disciple,  Jesus  discerned  his  great  capacity  for 
rendering  service  to  His  cause,  and  gave  him  a  prophetic 
token  of  the  part  he  was  to  play  in  the  early  history  of 
His  Church  by  conferring  on  him  the  new  name  of 
Cephas  (in  Greek,  Peter^  meaning  rock  or  stone),  (John 
L  40-42).  The  significance  of  the  name  was  more  fully 
unfolded  at  a  later  time  on  the  occasion  of  Peter's  great 
confession  of  Jesus  as  the  Christ  (Matt.  xvi.  13-19). 
Like  John  and  James,  Peter  was  admitted  to  a  closer 
fellowship  with  his  Master  than  the  rest  of  the  disciples 
(Mark  v.  37 ;  Matt.  xviL  i ;  xxvi.  37,  cf.  Mark  ilL  16,  17). 
In  company  wiib  }ohn   he  «ai  a  witness  of  Christ's 


I  PETER  I3X 


trial  in  the  high  priest's  palace,  where  he  fell  into  the 
threefold  denial  of  his  Master — to  be  bitteriy  repented 
of  immediately  afterwards  (Matt.  xxvi.  69-75  ;  Mark 
xiv.  66-72  ;  Luke  xxii.  54-62  ;  John  xviii  15-27).  On 
the  third  day  after  the  crucifixion  the  same  disciples 
went  together  early  in  the  morning  to  the  tomb  and 
found  it  empty,  as  Mary  Magdalene  had  told  them^ 
The  new  faith  which  then  sprang  up  in  Peter's  heart 
was  confirmed  by  several  interviews  granted  to  him  by 
the  risen  Christ,  who  gave  him  a  new  commission,  thrice 
uttered,  to  devote  himself  to  the  interests  of  his  Master's 
flock,  and  predicted  that  he  would  iie  a  martyr's  death  (John 
XX.  i-io,  19  ;  Lukexxiv.  33-34  ;  i  Cor.  xv.  5  ;  Johnxxi.) 

In  the  Book  of  Acts  we  find  Peter  acting  as  the 
leader  and  spokesman  of  the  early  Church  at  several 
crises  in  its  history,  viz.  the  election  of  an  apostle  in  place 
of  the  betrayer  ;  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost ;  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles,  in  the  person 
of  Cornelius,  the  Roman  centurion,  to  the  communion  of 
the  Church  ;  and  the  emancipation  of  the  Gentile  con- 
verts from  the  bondage  of  the  Jewish  law  at  the  Council  of 
Jerusalem  (Apts  i.  15-26;  ii.  1-42;  x.  ;  xv.  6-1 1).  It 
appears  that  shortly  after  the  last -mentioned  occasion  (50 
or  51  A.D.)  Peter  was  guilty  of  vacillation  in  his  relations 
with  Gentile  Christians  at  Antioch — reminding  us  of  his 
earlier  weakness, — which  called  forth  a  public  remon- 
strance from  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  (Gal.  ii.  11-14). 

Regarding  Peter's  subsequent  life  scarcely  any  in- 
formation is  furnished  by  the  New  Testament;  but 
ihere  is  an  ancient  and  general  tradition  that  he  suffered 
.nartyrdom  at  Rome  along  with  Paul  during  the  persecu- 
tion in  the  reign  of  Nero.  Many  legends  have  gathered 
round  his  imprisonment,  death,  and  burial.  The  lack 
of  evidence  for  these  need  not  prevent  us  from  acquiesc- 
ing in  the  general  belief  of  the  early  Church  that  it  was 
at  Rome  Peter  suflFered  the  death  by  martyrdom  which 
had  been  predicted  by  his  Lord.  This  is  contradicted  by 
no  other  ancient  tradition  of  the  Church,  and  we  have 
some  confirmation  of  it  in  this  epistle  (see  p.  134). 


I3a      NE  W  TESTAMENT  6»  ITS    WRITERS 


In  illustration  of  the  remark  already  made  as  to  the 
harmony  of  this  epistle  with  Peter's  experience  and 
character,  we  may  note  the  following  points,  (i)  The 
writer  claims  to  have  been  "a  witness  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ  "  (v.  i),  and  retains  a  vivid  impression  of  them, 
as  shown  in  his  description  of  Christ's  patience  (ii.  20-24} 
and  the  frequency  of  his  allusions  to  the  subject.  (2) 
He  gives  prominence  to  Christ's  resurrection,  and  repre- 
sents it  as  the  source  of  a  new  and  living  hope  (i.  3-4,  21 ; 
iii.  20-21),  which  had  precisely  been  Peter's  experience. 
(3)  He  dwells  upon  the  pastoral  aspect  of  Christ's 
ministry  (ii.  25  ;  v.  2-4)  as  if  under  an  abiding  sense  of 
the  responsibility  laid  upon  him  by  his  Master's  threefold 
charge  to  act  the  part  of  a  shepherd  to  his  flock.  (4) 
He  enlarges  on  the  idea  embodied  in  Peter's  name, 
representing  the  Church  as  ♦•  a  spiritual  house  "  composed 
of  living  stones,  with  Christ  Himself  as  the  chief  comer- 
stone  (ii.  4-8) — ^to  which  he  had  already  given  expression 
in  his  address  to  the  Sanhedrim  (Acts  iv.  11-12),  after 
the  example  of  his  Lord — quoting  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment (Matt.  xxi.  42).  (5)  His  injunction  to  his  readers, 
"all  of  you  gird  yourselves  with  humility"  (literally, 
*•  put  on  humility  like  a  slave's  apron,"  v.  5),  sounds 
like  a  reminiscence  of  the  Saviour's  action  which  so 
astonished  Peter  when  **he  took  a  towel  and  girded 
himself"  in  order  to  wash  His  disciples'  feet,  saying,  when 
He  had  finished,  "  I  have  given  you  an  example  that  ye 
also  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you"  (John  xiii.  2-17). 
(6)  His  language  in  L  17  ("And  if  ye  call  on  him  as 
Father,  who  without  respect  of  persons,"  etc. )  bears  a 
strong  resemblance  to  Peter's  words  at  Csesarea,  **0f 
a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons," 
etc.  (Acts  X.  34).  (7)  In  ii.  13-16,  "  Be  subject  to  every 
ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake  ...  as  free," 
we  have  probably  the  reproduction  of  the  lesson  taught 
to  Peter  by  his  Lord  with  regard  to  the  payment  of  the 
tribute  money  (Matt.  xvii.  24-27). 

In  the  last-mentioned  passage,  as  in  many  others,  we 
can  discern  traces  of  the  graphic  and  pictorial  style  charac- 


t   PHThR  X33 


teristic  of  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  which  there  is  reason  to 
believe  is  largely  a  record  of  Peter's  preaching.  Such 
are  the  expressions,  "not  using  your  freedom  for  a  cloke 
of  wickedness"  (ii.  i6),  the  word  translated  ^^ cloke ^^ 
being  peculiar  to  Peter  (only  used  here),  and  meaning  a 
veil  ox  covering  \  "ye  should  put  to  silence  the  ignorance 
of  foolish  men"  (ii.  15),  the  word  rendered  '*/«/  to 
silence  "  meaning,  in  a  literal  sense,  to  muzzle  (as  a  dog), 
and  being  only  applied  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament 
to  the  subduing  of  an  unclean  spirit,  and  the  stilling  of  the 
raging  sea — both  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  (i.  25  ;  iv.  39) ; 
**  leaving  you  an  example  that  ye  should  follow  his  steps  " 
(ii.  21),  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  translated 
"  example  "  being  the  copy-head  set  before  a  scholar  for 
his  patient  and  persevering  imitation  ;  **  your  adversary 
the  devil,  as  a  roaring  lion,  walketh  about  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour "  (v.  8).  Akin  to  the  pictorial  style  of 
the  epistle  is  the  "  wealth  of  epithets  "  by  which  it  is 
distinguished,  e.g.  "an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away"  (i.  4).  Ci.  L  7f  19; 
iL  9,  etc 

It  appears  from  v.  12  that  in  writing  this  epistle  he 
had  the  assistance  of  "  Silvanus,  our  faithful  brother,**  as 
his  amanuensis,  who  is,  no  doubt,  to  be  identified  with 
the  "  Silas  "  mentioned  in  Acts  xv.  22,  32,  40,  and  the 
Silvanus  of  i  Thess.  i.  i ;  2  Thess.  i.  i ;  2  Cor.  L  19. 

To  whom  written.  —  **  To  the  elect  who  arc 
tfojoumers  of  the  Dispersion  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cap- 
padocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia.**  The  meaning  of  tWs 
address  has  been  much  disputed.  By  some  it  has  been 
taken  in  a  literal  sense  as  denoting  the  Christian  Jews 
of  the  Dispersion  residing  in  the  various  parts  of  Asia 
Minor  that  are  here  specified.  But  this  is  inconsistent 
with  the  language  used  by  the  apostle  to  his  readers  in 
L  14;  iL  9-10  (where  he  quotes  the  same  passage  from 
Hosea  that  Paul  applies  to  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles  in 
Rom.  ix.  25);  iii  6  (R.V.);  iv.  3  (R.V.)  All  these 
passages  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  readers  of 
the  epistle  were  largely  Gentiles,  as  we  know  the  mem- 


134      NE IV  TESTAMENT  6*  /TS    WRITERS 

bers  of  the  Churches  in  Asia  Minor  for  the  most  part 
were.^ 

The  best  interpretation  of  the  words  **  sojourners  of 
the  Dispersion  "  is  to  take  them  in  a  spiritual  sense 
with  reference  to  the  heavenly  Canaan,  from  which 
Christ's  followers  on  earth  may  be  regarded  as  tem- 
porary exiles,  the  Churches  to  which  they  belong  being 
scattered  branches  of  a  commonwealth  that  has  its  home 
and  its  metropolis  in  heaven.  This  interpretation  is 
justified  by  the  whole  tone  of  the  epistle,  which  gives  a 
spiritual  meaning  to  the  blessings  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
It  accords  in  particular  with  ii.  ii,  "Beloved,  I  beseech 
you  as  sojourners  and  pilgrims,  to  abstain  from  fleshly 
lusts,  which  war  against  the  soul." 

When  and  where  wrioten. — The  only  thing  we 
have  to  guide  us  as  to  the  place  of  writing  is  v.  13:  *  •  She 
that  is  in  Babylon,  elect  together  with  you,  saluteth  you," 
i.e.  the  Church  (or  else  St.  Peter's  wife,  i  Cor.  ix.  5  ; 
Matt.  viii.  14).  By  "  Babylon "  we  are  probably  to 
understand  the  city  of  Rome,  as  the  new  seat  of  oppres- 
sion and  cruelty  to  God's  people.  This  was  the  view 
generally  held  by  the  early  Church  Fathers ;  it  is  in 
accordance  trith  the  figurative  language  of  the  epistle, 
referred  to  in  the  previous  section  ;  and  it  accounts  for 
the  strong  resemblance  between  this  epistle  and  that  of 
Paul  to  the  Romans.*  It  is  almost  certain  that  Babylon 
has  this  meaning  in  the  Revelation  ;  and  it  woidd 
add  to  the  force  of  Peter's  exhortations  to  courage  and 
patience,  that  he  was  himself,  when  he  wrote,  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  conflict. 

With  regard  to  the  date  of  its  composition,  the  proba- 

1  For  information  regarding  the  Church  in  Pontus  see  Acts  ii.  ^  ; 
zviiL  a ;  in  Galatia,  pp.  71-73 ;  in  Cappadocia,  Acts  ii.  9 ;  in  Asia, 
Acts  xrC\\.  24-26 ;  xx.  17-35 ;  Ephesians  and  Colossians.  These 
Churches  had  received  the  Gospel  from  Paul  and  his  associates. 
Hence  the  value  of  Peter's  testimony  in  v.  12. 

2  E.g.  cf.  ii.  6-8,  Rom.  ix.  33,  and  Isa.  viii.  14,  xxviii.  16 ;  ii._  13- 
14,  Rom.  xiii.  1-4.  A  resemblance  can  also  be  traced  to  Ephesians 
and  the  Epistle  of  James,  showing  how  little  truth  there  is  in  Baur  % 
theory  of  an  irreconcilable  opposition  between  Pattl  and  the  rest  of 
th«  apostles  (Salmon's  Intrcdttctwn,  pp.  485-89). 


I  PETER  135 


bility  seems  to  be  that  the  letter  was  written  shortly 
after  the  outbreak  of  the  Neronian  persecution,  when 
the  Churches  in  the  provinces  were  beginning  to  experi- 
ence the  effects  of  the  imperial  example  at  Rome,  Thi? 
would  be  about  64-5  A.D. 

Its    Character   and    Contents.  —  This    epistle 

breathes  the  spirit  of  practical  earnestness  so  character- 
istic of  its  author.  The  Greek  word  "to  do  good" 
occurs  no  less  than  nine  times  in  the  course  of  the  five 
chapters.  There  is  no  want  of  allusion  to  Christian 
privilege  and  Christian  doctrine ;  but  it  is  always  for  a 
practical  purpose,  as  furnishing  motives  for  Christian 
obedience.  Of  this  we  have  an  illustration  in  the 
frequent  use  of  the  words  **  wherefore,"  "  because,"  etc., 
by  way  of  enforcing  practical  applications  (i.  13,  16,  22; 
ii.  I,  etc).  The  chief  duty  which  the  writer  wishes  to  in- 
culcate is  that  of  patience  under  suffering  (i.  6-7 ;  ii.  19- 
21;  iii  13-18;  iv.  12-19).  Ill  many  cases  this  suffering 
arose  from  persecution.  But  it  was  social  rather  than 
legal  persecution,  proceeding  from  suspicion  and  ill-will 
on  the  part  of  the  non-Christian  members  of  the  commun- 
ity (ii.  18-19;  iii.  16).  The  very  name  of  Christian  was 
becoming  a  term  of  reproach  (iv.  16) ;  and  even  worse  trials 
were  in  store  for  them  (iv.  12,  17).  For  the  endurance 
af  all  such  unmerited  sufferings  the  apostle  points  them 
to  the  example  of  the  Saviour  (whose  sufferings  are  re- 
ferred to  in  every  chapter),  at  the  same  time  bidding  them 
take  care  that  they  did  not  bring  trouble  on  themselves 
by  their  unworthy  conduct.  Their  trials,  he  reminds 
them,  are  only  for  a  time  (i.  6;  iv.  7;  v.  10),  and 
will  receive  abundant  compensation  at  the  revelation  of 
Christ's  glory  (i.  7;  iv.  13-14;  v.  10).  "The  sufferings 
of  Christ  and  the  glories  that  should  follow  "  are  indeed 
the  two  poles  around  which  the  whole  argument  of  the 
epistle  turns,  resulting  in  a  beautiful  blending  of  patience 
and  hope.  Hence  Peter  has  been  styled  *'  the  Apostle 
of  Hope." 

Along  with  the  calls  to  patience  there  are  mingled 
vaiioos  other  admonitions  addressed  to  cititgHX^  iL  13' 


136     NE  W  TESTAMENT  6f  ITS   WRITERS 

17;  servants^  il  18-20;  wives^  ill  1-6;  husbands^  iii  7; 
elders  of  the  Churchy  v.  I -4;  and  the  congregation  gener- 
ally, with  reference  to  various  duties,  iv.  5-II,  etc 
It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  although  this  epistle  has  so 
little  of  a  speculative  character,  it  has  been  the  means  of 
revealing  two  interesting  truths,  which  would  not  have 
been  otherwise  known  to  us  (i.  12,  last  clause;  iiL  18- 
20).  It  may  also  be  said  to  contain  a  practical  refuta- 
tion  of  the  Romish  theory  as  to  Peter's  jurisdiction  in 
the  Church.  So  far  from  making  any  claim  to  authority 
or  pre-eminence,  the  writer  expressly  puts  himself  on  a 
level  with  the  other  presbyters,  and  deprecates  anything^ 
like  a  spirit  of  lordship  in  the  exercise  of  their  ministry 
(v.  1-3).  The  names  "  priest,"  "  bishop,"  ^  "  Church," 
are  never  even  mentioned  by  him. 

1  Except  in  tt.  as*  where,  however,  it  is  Chffat  Himself  who  is  so 
Aesicnated. 


a  PETER  *37 


CHAPTER   XXn 

8  PKTE» — ^JUDB* 
"THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  P«T««" 

WHO  wrote  it,— The  genuineness  of  this  epistle 
has  been  more  questioned  than  that  of  any  othex 
book  in  the  New  Testament  The  external  evidence  for 
it  is  comparatively  meagre.  While  it  may  be  true  that 
echoes  of  its  language  are  to  be  found  in  not  a  few  works 
of  the  second  century,  yet  the  first  writer  to  make  express 
and  unmistakable  mention  of  it  b  Origen  (230  A.D.),  and 
he  does  so  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  that  he  has  doubts 
about  its  genuineness.  A  century  later  it  is  classed  by 
Eusebius  among  the  disputed  books  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  difficulty  of  accepting  it  as  a  genuine  writing  of 
Peter  has  chiefly  arisen  both  in  ancient  and  in  moden) 
times  from  its  differing  so  greatly  in  tone  and  substance 
from  the  first  epistle,  written,  as  we  have  seen,  near  the 
close  of  Peter's  life.  There  is  scarcely  any  reference  in 
it  to  our  Saviour's  sufferings  or  resurrection,  which  figure 
so  largely  in  the  first  epistle  ;  and  what  it  chiefly  incul- 
cates is  knowledge  rather  than  hope. 

But,  apart  from  the  versatility  of  Peter*i  mind,  this 
difference  may  to  a  large  extent  be  accounted  for  by 
the  different  circumstances  under  which  the  two  epistles 
were  written.  WTiile  the  first  epistle  was  evidently 
designed  to  encourage  and  support  Christians  under 
persecution,  this  later  one  was  intended  to  warn  them 
against  false  teachers  who  were  spreading  corruption  in 
I  Oa  the  connecuon  between  these  two  epistles,  see  p.  Z4a. 


138     NE  W  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 

the  Church.  At  the  same  time  this  epistle,  like  the  firit, 
is  eminently  practical,  insisting  on  the  necessity  of 
Christian  duty  for  the  perfecting  of  Christian  knowledge, 
emphasising  the  danger  of  knowledge  without  pr&ctice 
(L  5-10;  ii.  20-21),  and  giving  a  practical  turn  to  the 
ailment  (iii.  ii,  14).  Moreover,  a  close  examination 
of  the  language  and  thought  in  this  epistle  brings  out 
many  points  of  resemblance  between  it  and  P$Ur*s 
language  elsewhere.  A  likeness  to  the  first  epistle  will  be 
found  on  a  comparison  of  the  undemoted  passages.^  It 
may  also  be  seen  in  the  frequent  use  of  twofold  expres- 
sions, e.g.  (in  this  epistle)  ••  precious  and  exceeding  great," 
"not  idle  nor  unfruitful,"  "without  spot  and  blame 
less  "  (i.  4,  8,  9,  19 ;  ii.  3,  10,  13,  etc.),  and  in  the  marked 
recurrence  in  both  epistles  of  the  word  •'  holy.  '*  A  number 
of  rerbal  coincidences  have  also  been  observed  between 
this  epistle  and  the  Gospel  of  Mark  as  well  as  Peter's 
speeches  in  the  Book  of  Acts ;  but  they  are  for  the 
most  part  verbal,  and  such  as  can  only  be  appreciated  bj  a 
student  of  the  originaL' 

It  has  also  been  found  that  this  epistle,  like  the  first, 
it  distinguished  by  the  use  of  rare  words,  occurring  scarcely 
anjTwhere  else  in  the  New  Testament  ;  and  these  are,  for 
the  most  part,  of  a  striking  and  pictorial  character,  after 
the  manner  of  Peter.  E.g.  "whose  sentence  now  firom  of 
old  lingereth  not*'  (ii  3),  "turning  the  cities  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  into  asA^s**  (ii  6),  *^  enticing  onstedfast 
souls,"  "  they  entice  in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  "  (ii  14,  18) 
(the  word  translated  "  entice  "  meaning  literally  to  takt 
with  a  baity  being  such  a  word  as  a  fisherman  would 
naturally  use)  "which  the  ignorant  and  nnstedfast  fltmu/, 
as  they  do  also  the  other  scriptures  "  (iii.  16) — the  Greek 
word  for  "  wrest "  meaning  to  put  on  the  rack,  like  a 
criminal,  for  the  purpose  of  extorting  a  desired  confession. 

It  is  worthy  oif  remark  as  a  note  of  genuineness  that 

&  L  •,  I  Pm.  L  t :  L  7, 1  Ptt.  L  n,  fiL  I ;  L 19-90,  i  Fct.  L  >»>xa ; 
Pet.  L  tS;  BL  5, 1  Ptt.  iO.  so:  L  3,  X  Pec  ▼.  le;  B.  (4* 


ft.  I,  X  Pel 


I  Traced  bv  Dr.  Lamby  b  S^^mJm't  Ctmmtutafjt  md  Es^ost 
<^,  voL  Iv.,  Firtt  Seriofc 


a  F&TER  139 


tltbcxugh  the  writer  wa*  evidently  acquainted  vrith  the 
fiisl  epistle  (iiL  l),  he  does  not  copy  its  des:gnation  of  the 
apostle,  as  a  forger  might  surely  hare  be«n  expected  to 
do,  nor  doe*  be  attach  the  «ame  address  to  the  epistle 
(L  I,  I  Pet.  L  I),  Similarly,  when  he  mentions  the 
wordj  spoken  by  the  roice  from  hearen  at  the  Trans- 
duration,  he  does  not  gire  them  exactly  as  they  are 
reported  in  the  Gospels  ;  and,  in  immediate  connection 
with  the  Transfiguration,  he  makes  use  of  two  words, 
namely  ••uberaacle"  and  "decease,"  that  would  natur- 
ally be  associated  in  Peter's  mind  with  the  memory  erf 
that  great  incident  (L  14-18,  cf.  Luke  ix..  31-33).  In 
his  use  of  the  expression  in  the  same  passage,  "  even  as 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  signified  unto  me,"  we  may  trace 
an  allusion  to  our  Lord's  prophecy  in  John  xxL  18-19. 

To  whom  writteiL  —  Apf>arently  to  tiic  same 
readers  as  the  first  epistle  (iiL   i). 

Where  and  when  written.  —  We  may  regard  it 

as  certain  that  it  was  written  before  the  destruction  of 
Jemsalem.  Otherwise  such  an  impressive  instance  ol 
divine  judgment  could  scarcely  have  been  left  unnoticed 
in  alluding  to  the  retributive  justice  of  God. 

At  the  same  time  the  errors  and  dangers  described  in 
dus  epistie,  which  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  those 
referred  to  in  the  pastoral  epistles  (i  Tim.  iv.  1-2  ;  vi. 
5,  20-21  ;  2  Tim.  ii  18  ;  iii.  1-7),  prove  that  it  could 
not  have  been  written  much  sooner  than  70  A..D.  The 
allusion  to  Paal's  episties  as  known  to  his  readers  liii. 
15-16)  leads  to  the  same  conclusion,  as  does  also  the 
frequency  of  th«  expression  "  put  in  remembrance  "  and 
kindred  words  (L  12,  13,  15  ;  iii.  1-2),  which  indicate 
an  advanced  period  in  the  apostolic  age,  as  well  as  in  the 
life  of  Peter — if  he  was  the  writer. 

Like  the  first  episUe,  this  was  probably  written  from 
Rome  ;  bat  the  use  of  the  ap>ostle's  Hebrew  name  of 
Symeon,  or  Simon  (L  l),  as  weD  as  the  connection  of 
this  epistie  with  that  of  jude,  would  seem  to  indicate  a 
Palestinian  influence  of  some  sort,  possibly  in  the  persor. 
of  Peter"!  amanaensis  or  secretary. 


40     NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS    WRITERS 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — This  epistle,  unlike 
the  first,  is  full  of  denunciation  and  warning.  It  was 
designed  to  put  its  readers  on  their  guard  against  false 
teachers,  who  were  enticing  unsteadfast  souls,  •*  promis- 
ing them  liberty  while  they  themselves  are  bondservants 
of  corruption."  In  opposition  to  their  immoral  doctrines 
this  epistle  inculcates  a  steady  and  persevering  endeavour 
after  holiness  as  the  only  way  to  advance  in  true  know- 
ledge and  secure  an  entrance  into  the  eternal  kingdom 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  In  particular, 
the  writer  seeks  to  confute  the  arguments  and  counteract 
the  influence  of  certain  scoffers  who  made  light  of  the 
Second  Coming,  as  if  it  were  a  vain  delusion,  and  appealed 
to  the  constancy  of  Nature  as  a  warrant  for  their  unbelief 
The  delay  of  the  divine  judgment  the  writer  attributes 
to  the  fact  that  "  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day,"  alleg- 
ing the  delay  to  be  a  proof  of  God's  mercy  and  long- 
suffering.  The  destruction  of  the  world  in  the  days  of 
Noah  is  cited  as  an  act  of  divine  judgment  analogous  to 
that  which  is  to  take  place  at  the  end  of  the  worid, 
when  the  destroying  element,  however,  shall  be  not  water 
but  fire.  From  the  dread  catastrophe  there  shall  arise 
"  new  heavens  a  1  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness," for  which  Christians  ought  to  be  preparing ; 
and  the  epistle  concludes  much  in  the  same  way  as  it 
commenced,  by  a  call  to  "  grow  in  the  grace  and  know- 
ledge of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

The  intrinsic  worth  of  the  epistle  is  well  expressed  by 
Calvin  when  he  says,  "  the  majesty  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
exhibits  itself  in  every  part  of  the  epistle." 

••the  general  epistle  of  jude" 

Who  wrote  it. — "  Judas,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  brother  of  James."  It  may  be  regarded  as  certain 
that  the  James  here  referred  to  was  the  well-known  head 
of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  one  of  our  Lord's  brethren, 
and  the  writer  of  the  epistle  that  bears  his  name  (cf. 


JUDE  141 

Matt  xiiL  55  ;  Mark  vi.  3).  Jude  is  therefore  not  to  be 
identified  with  any  of  the  apostles  of  the  same  name 
mentioned  in  the  Gospels.  Had  he  been  an  apostle  he 
would  doubtless  have  claimed  the  title,  instead  of  being 
content  to  call  himself  "  the  brother  of  James."  Regard- 
ing Jude  personally  we  know  little  or  nothing,  but  an 
interesting  tradition  concerning  two  of  his  grandsons  has 
been  preserved  by  Hegesippus.  That  historian  (as 
quoted  by  Eusebius)  tells  how  the  Emperor  Domitian, 
being  moved  with  jealousy,  sent  for  these  two  kinsmen 
of  our  Lord  to  inquire  of  them  regarding  the  kingdom 
to  which  they  aspired.  When  he  learned  from  them 
that  they  were  merely  peasant  proprietors  farming  a  few 
acres  of  land  in  Palestine,  and  saw  their  hands  homy 
with  constant  labour,  and  when  they  told  him  further 
that  the  kingdom  to  which  they  looked  forward  was  not 
of  this  world,  but  to  be  revealed  when  Christ  came  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  his  alarm  was  removed, 
and  he  allowed  them  to  depart  in  peace.  Tradition  tells 
that  they  lived  to  the  reign  of  Trajan,  honoured  by  the 
Church  for  their  confession  and  for  their  relation  to  the 
Lord. 

The  obscurity  of  Jude  himself  is  a  strong  argument  for 
the  genuineness  of  the  epistle,  as  a  forger  would  have 
chosen  some  more  distinguished  name  to  associate  with 
his  work.  Although  it  is  reckoned  by  Eusebius  among 
the  disputed  books,  wc  find  it  quoted  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria  in  the  end  of  the  second  century ;  and  it 
has  also  a  place  in  the  Muratorian  Canon. 

To  whom  written. — On  this  subject  we  are  left  to 
conjecture.  Considering  the  Jewish  features  of  the  book 
and  the  Jewish  character  of  its  author,  it  would  seem 
probable  that  it  was  written  to  Christians  in  Palestine, 
bat  not  to  any  particular  Church,  as  it  contains  no  special 
salutations  or  messages. 

Where    and  when   written.  —  Regarding   the 

place  of  writing  we  have  no  direct  information,  but  all 
the  circumstances  point  to  Palestine  as  its  source.  From 
the  absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  destroctioa  of  Jerusalem 


142     NEW  TESTAMENT  b*  ITS   WRITEES 

we  may  infer  that  it  was  written  prior  to  that  event ;  but 
here,  as  in  2  Peter,  the  evils  with  which  the  epistle 
deals  preclude  us  from  giving  it  a  much  earlier  date,  aqr 
65-68  A.D. 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— This  epistle,  con- 
sisting of  a  single  chapter,  bears  a  very  striking  likeness 
to  the  second  chapter  of  2  Peter,  so  much  so  that  we 
may  conclude  with  confidence  that  the  one  was  borrowed 
from  the  other.  As  this  epistle  has  certain  features  of 
originality  about  it  which  the  other  lacks,  we  may  infer 
that  St.  Peter  and  not  Jude  was  the  borrower.  It  is 
quite  possible,  however,  that  the  Epistle  of  Jude  may 
itself  be  the  translation  of  an  Aramaic  original — ^judging, 
for  example,  from  its  fondness  for  threefold  expressions. 

The  epistle  is  remarkable  for  several  allusions  to 
matters  of  ancient  history  that  are  not  recorded  in  the 
Old  Testament.  In  ver.  14  we  have  a  quotation  from  an 
apocryphal  book  of  Enoch  (of  which  several  copies  of 
an  Ethiopic  version  were  brought  from  Abyssinia  by  the 
traveller  Bruce  in  1773) ;  and  ver.  9  seems  to  have  been 
derived  from  a  book  called  **  The  Assumption  of  Moses," 
only  a  small  part  of  which  has  been  preserved  to  us. 
These  allusions  are  no  more  at  variance  with  the 
doctrine  of  Inspiration  than  the  quotations  in  the  Old 
Testament  from  the  *'  Book  of  Jasher,"  etc,  or  Paul's 
allusions  to  "Jannes  and  Jambres"  (2  Tim.  iii.  8),  or  his 
quotations  from  heathen  writers.  In  2  Peter,  however, 
these  quotations  are  so  modified  as  to  lose  their  apocryphal 
character,  and  there  is  also  an  omission  of  one  or  two 
references  to  Levitical  uncleanness,  as  if  the  writer 
desired  to  adapt  his  epistle  as  far  as  possible  for  general 
use. 

The  epistle  is  full  of  sharp  and  stem  denunciation, 
aimed  at  practical  evils  of  a  most  heinous  character, 
committed  by  men  who  were  **  turning  the  grace  of  our 
God  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying  our  only  Master  and 
Lord,  Jesus  Christ."  These  evils  were  founded  upon  a 
gross  abuse  of  Christian  liberty,  and  were  somewhat 
similar  to  the  terrible  excesses  which  brok^  oat  among 


JUDB  I4J 

the  Anabaptists  after  the  Protestant  Reformation,  re- 
sulting from  the  abuse  of  the  doctrine  of  Justification 
by  Faith,  when  professing  Christians  combined  the  guilt 
of  Cain  (bloodshed),  of  Balaam  (seduction),  and  of 
Korah  (insubordination)  ver.  ii.  In  view  of  the  corrup- 
tion both  of  faith  and  manners  that  was  thus  beginning 
to  infect  the  Church,  Jude  exhorts  his  readers  to  ♦'con- 
tend earnestly  for  the  faith  which  was  once  for  all 
delivered  unto  the  saints,"  and  appeals  to  the  past 
history  of  God's  judgments  for  proof  of  the  punishment 
in  store  for  the  present  offenders,  whom  he  commends 
nevertheless  to  the  compassion  and  care  of  their  believing 
brethren. 

The  epistle  concludes  with  one  of  the  most  beautiiu] 
doxologies  to  be  found  ia  the  New  Testament. 


144     ^^W  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS   WRITERS 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

I,  a,  AND  3  JOHN 

"THB   FIRST   EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF   JOHN* 

AITHO  wrote  it. — This  epistle  is  quoted  by  two  ol 
^  '  the  Fathers  who  had  been  disciples  of  the  Apostle 
John,  viz.  Polycarp  and  Papias.  It  is  also  recognised, 
and  quoted,  as  John's  by  Irenaeus,  who  had  been  a  dis- 
ciple of  Polycarp.  It  is  freely  quoted  by  Clement  o{ 
Alexandria  and  TertuUian  ;  it  is  referred  to  in  the  Mura- 
torian  Fragment,  and  it  is  one  of  the  books  contained  in 
the  old  Syriac  Version. 

Its  internal  character  is  such  as  to  confirm  us  in  the 
belief  that  it  was  written  by  the  author  of  the  fourth 
Gospel.  Not  only  has  it  many  verbal  similarities,^  but  it 
is  dominated  by  the  same  Christian  idealism  which  refers 
all  things  in  human  life  to  the  ultimate  principles  of  light 
and  darkness,  truth  and  error,  good  and  evil,  love  and 
hatred,  life  and  death,  God  and  the  devil.  So  intimate 
is  the  connection  between  the  two  books  that  the  epistle 
was  regarded  by  the  late  Bishop  Lightfoot  as  forming 
a  postscript  to  the  Gospel 

To  whom  written. — In  all  probability  it  was 
addressed  in  the  first  instance  to  the  Churches  of  Asia, 

\  E.g.  cf.  L  I,  John  L  I,  x^  XX.  27  ;  La,  John  iiL  ii ;  L  3,  Joh- 
xvii.  81 J  L  4,  John  xvL  24 ;  l  5,  6,  John  L  5,  iiL  ai,  viiL  la ;  ii.  11, 
John  xii.  35 ;  uL  14,  John  v.  34 ;  iv.  9,  John  C  14,  iiL  x6 ;  ir.  14,  Tohr 
nr.  4a ;  t.  6,  John  six.  34, 


I  JOHN  145 

unong  whom  the  Apostle  John  spent  the  latter  part  of 
his  life.  The  exhortation  in  v.  21,  «' guard  yourselves 
from  idols,"  would  have  special  significance  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ephesus,  which  was  a  great  strong- 
hold of  idolatry;  and  the  absence  of  allusions  to  the  Old 
Testament  bears  out  the  supposition  that  the  epistle  was 
addressed  to  converts  from  heathenism  Although  there 
are  no  personal  or  historical  allusions  such  as  would  have 
been  likely  to  occur  if  it  had  been  a  letter  addressed  to 
an  individual  Church,  yei  the  writer  speaks  in  a  quiet 
tone  of  authority  as  if  he  were  well  known  to  his  readers 
and  expected  that  his  words  would  command  respect.^ 

Where    and  when  written. — It    was    probably 

wruien  in  the  same  city  as  tradition  assigns  to  the  Gos 
pel,  viz.  Ephesus;  and  about  the  same  time — 85  a.d., 
or  a  few  years  later.  It  takes  the  Gospel  for  granted, 
and  in  certain  passages  {e.g.  ii.  I,  etc,  "my  little 
children  ")  the  tone  of  its  language  is  such  as  would  befit 
an  aged  apostle  addressing  men  of  a  later  generation. 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— In  this  epistle— 

probably  the  last  inspired  utterance  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment excepting  the  two  brief  missives  that  follow  it — we 
have  the  translation  into  the  Chriitmn  life  of  those  great 
truths,  rei^ardiny  the  fellowship  of  God  with  man,  that  are 
found  in  the  fourth  Gospel  in  connection  with  the  life 
and  ministry  oi  Jesus  Christ.  That  Gospel,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  doctrinal  as  well  as  historical,  but  its  doctrines 
are  here  applied  tu  the  lives  of  Christ's  followers.  The 
epi-tle  IS  thus  in  advance  of  the  Gospel,  being  designed 
to  lead  Christians  to  a  conscious  realiscUton  of  the  new  life 
to  which  they  are  called  in  fellowship  with  Christ  (cf.  v. 
13' and  i.  4  with  John  xx.  31). 

Its  thought  springs  uiaiiily  out  of  a  twofold  concep 
tion  of  the  Divine   Nature   as   ««%-4/"  (i.-ii.),   and   as 

1  Aagustine  and  other  Latin  writeri  speak  of  the  epistle  a* 
•ddressed  to  the  Partkians,  but  this  was  probably  a  mistake 
occasioned  by  the  Greek  term  partfunos  T'  virgin  "),  which  was 
frcaoently  applied  to  th*  Apostle  John,  in  allusion  to  bu  tuppose^i 
MfaloBg  celibacy. 

10 


.46     NB  W  TESTAMENT  &•  ITS    WRITERS 

'*  love"  {\y.  7-v.),  united  by  a  bond  of  righteousness  (ii. 
29-iv.  6).  There  is  no  laboured  argument  such  as  we 
find  in  some  of  Paul's  epistles,  but  simply  an  appeal  to 
first  principles  that  are  to  be  seen  with  the  spiritual  eye, 
not  to  be  proved  by  means  of  logic. 

Although  lofty  and  spiritual,  the  teaching  in  the 
epistle  is  at  the  same  time  intensely  practical.  It  was 
evidently  intended  to  counteract  the  growing  tendency  to 
magnify  knowledge  at  the  expense  of  practice  (16-7;  ii. 
3-6  ;  iii.  6-IO  ;  cf.  ii.  18-19).  One  form  of  this  incipient 
Gnosticism  was  associated  with  the  name  of  Cerinthus, 
who  lived  at  Ephesus  in  the  time  of  the  apostle.  Cerin 
thus,  like  many  others, ^  denied  the  reality  of  Christ's 
humanity,  maintaining,  in  particular,  that  the  Divine 
Being  only  entered  into  the  man  Jesus  at  his  Baptism  and 
left  him  on  the  eve  of  his  Passion.  Hence  the  emphatic 
statement  of  the  apostle  (v.  6),  "  This  is  he  that  came  by 
water  and  blood,  even  Jesus  Christ  ;  not  with  the  water 
only,  but  with  the  water  and  with  the  blood," — that  is  to 
say,  the  Saviour  fulfilled  His  divine  mission  in  His  decUh 
upon  the  cross  as  well  as  in  His  baptism.  Again  and 
again,  in  other  passages,  the  apostle  insists  on  the  reality 
of  the  union  between  Jesus  and  the  Christ,  as  an  essential 
element  of  the  Christian  faith  (ii.  22  ;  !▼.  2-3,  1 5  ;  v. 
I,  5;cf.  i.  1-4). 

While  it  gives  no  quarter  to  evil  and  falsehood,  the 
epistle  overflows  with  exhortations  to  the  love  of  God 
and  man  (ii.  9-1 1  ;  iii.  11-18;  iv.  7-13,  16-21  ;  ▼.  1-2). 
As  we  read  the  apostle's  langiiage  ticre,  we  find  it  easy  to 
believe  the  story  told  of  him  by  Jerome,  that  when  he  was 
coo  old  to  preach  he  used  to  be  carried  to  church, 
simply  to  repeat  in  the  hearing  of  the  congregation, 
'*  Little  children,  love  one  another."  And  when  some 
one  asked  him,  "  Master,  why  dost  thou  always  speak 
thus? "he  answered,  "Because  it  is  the  Lord's  com- 
mand ;  and  if  only  this  be  done,  it  is  enough. " 

D9uta    from  a  Greek  word  meanmft  mfpmnmt%  ool 


a  JUH^  Ut'i 


"THE    SECOND    EPISTLE   OF   JOHN* 

Who  wrote  it.  —  The  external  evidence  for  the 
genuineness  of  this  epistle  is  not  so  convincing  as  in  the 
case  of  the  one  that  we  have  just  been  considering  ;  but 
this  is  easily  accounted  for  by  its  brevity  and  its  being 
less  suitable  for  public  reading  in  church.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  expressly  quoted  by  Irenaus  and  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  Muratorian  Frag- 
ment. It  appears  also  to  have  been  acknowledged  by 
Eusebius,  although  he  placed  it  among  the  •'  disputed" 
books.  With  regard  to  internal  evidence,  it  has  all  the 
appearance  of  being  genuine.  Like  the  third  epistle  it 
bears  to  be  written  by  *•  the  elder,"  a  designation  which 
Implies  that  the  writer  was  a  well-known  personage 
in  the  Church.  Papias  applies  the  name  of  **  elders  " 
specially  to  the  surviving  disciples  of  the  Lord,  as  men  of 
a  past  generation, — so  that  there  was  a  certain  appropriate- 
ness in  John  so  describing  himself,  as  the  last  of  the 
apostles.^  An  imitator  who  wished  to  pass  for  John 
would  have  made  his  claim  in  more  distinct  terms ; 
and  the  contents  of  the  epistle  are  such  that  no 
reasonable  motive  can  be  assigned  for  forgery. 

The  genuineness  of  the  epistle  derives  considerable 
support  also  from  its  strong  resemblance  to  the  first 
epistle, — no  less  than  seven  of  its  thirteen  verses  having 
something  parallel  in  the  other.' 

To  whom  written. — "  Unto  the  elect  lady  and  her 
children."  It  is  a  question  whether  these  words  are  to 
be  taken  literally,  or  in  a  f.gurativc  sense  as  the  designa- 
tion of  a  Church  and  its  members.  C/n  the  whole  the 
latter  seems  the  more  probable,  in  view  of  the  expres- 
doDS  used  in  verses  i,  4,  3,  10,  13.     Such  language 

1  Ct  Peter't  nse  of  the  expression  "  a  fellow-dder,"  as  applied  to 
himielf  (i  Peter  t.  i). 

»  C£.  rer.  i  and  i  John  iii.  18  ;  ver.  4  and  iv.  ai ;  ver.  5  and  B. 

I;  w.  6  ud  V.  3 ;  ver.  7  and  iv.  1-3  ;  ver.  g  and  iL  33 ;  ver.  la  and 
4* 


14?      NR  W  TESTAMENT  6*  ITS    WRITERS 

need  not  surprise  us  in  the  case  of  a  writer  so  fond  d 
symbolism  as  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  and  the 
fourth  Gospel. >  But  which  of  the  Churches  in  Asia 
is  thus  addressed  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 

Where  and  when  written. — Probably  from  Ephe- 
sus, — subsequently  to  the  first  epistle. 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— While  the  epistle 
contains  expressions  of  warm  affection  for  the  members 
of  the  Church  in  question  (whom  the  apostle  appears  to 
have  recently  visited),  its  main  object  was  evidently  to 
warn  them  against  the  insidious  and  corrupting  influ- 
ence of  certain  heretical  teachers  who  were  going  about 
denying  the  reality  of  Christ's  humanity  (ver.  7).  The 
apostle  urges  an  uncompromising  opposition  to  all  such 
teachers,  in  terms  that  remind  us  of  the  story  told  by 
Irenaeus  on  the  authority  of  those  who  had  received  it 
from  Polycarp,  that  finding  Cerinthus  in  a  public  bath, 
the  apostle  rushed  out  at  the  sight  of  him,  exclaiming, 
*•  Let  us  fly  lest  even  the  bath  fall  on  us,  because  Cerin- 
thus, the  enemy  of  the  truth,  is  within," — a  speech  that 
betrays  a  lingering  of  the  spirit  that  had  once  been  re- 
buked by  his  Lord  (Luke  ix.  54).  On  the  other  hand, 
the  blending  of  love  ^  with  truth  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
epistle  is  equally  characteristic  of  the  disciple  **  whom 
Jesus  loved ";  and  it  finds  similar  illustration  in  the 
beautiful  story  of  "  St  John  and  the  Robber." 


"THE    THIRD    EPISTLE  OF  JOHN** 

Who  wrote  it. — If  we  admit  the  second  epistle  to  he 
the  work  of  John,  we  can  have  no  difficulty  in  accepting 
this  also  as  his.  The  two  epistles  have  been  aptly  termed 
^*  twins  "  ;  *  and  the  contents  of  this  epistle  are  to  peculiar 

^  Some  think  that  a  similar  metaphor  is  to  t>e  found  in  Che  First 
Epistle  of  Peter  (v.  13),  whom  tradition  associates  in  his  later  years 
with  John. 

)  The  word  "  love "  occurs  four  times  in  this  than  eputie,  and 
"  truth  "  five  times. 

*  For  resemblances  cf.  ver.  i  and  s  John  vcr.  t ;  ««r.  f^  amf 
Joha  ver.  4:  ver.  x^  and  •  John  ver.  ix 


3  JOHN  J49 

In  their  bearing  on  the  position  and  authority  of  the  a{)Ostle, 
as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  forgery. 

To  whom  written. — "  Unto  Gains  the  beloved." 
The  name  Gains  occurs  several  times  in  the  New 
Testament ; '  but  whether  the  receiver  of  this  letter 
is  to  be  identified  with  any  of  those  who  are  elsewhere 
so  called  it  is  impossible  to  say,  the  name  being  a  very 
common  one.  He  is  addressed  as  a  faithful  and  liberal 
member  of  the  Church  (verses  1-6). 

Where    and    when    written.  —  Probably    from 

Ephesus, — subsequently  to  the  first  epistle. 

Its  Character  and  Contents.— This  epistle,  like 

the  second,  gives  us  a  momentary  glimpse  of  Church- 
life  in  Asia  towards  the  close  of  the  first  century,  ^^'hile 
the  second  contains  a  warning  against  heresy y  this  relates 
rather  to  the  evil  of  schism.  It  shows  us  the  practical 
diflRculties  which  even  the  Apostle  John  had  to  encounter 
in  the  government  of  the  Church.  In  Gaius  (the  re- 
cipient of  the  letter)  we  have  a  sincere  and  charitable 
Christian  whose  influence  and  example  John  invokes  in 
opposition  to  the  factious  and  intolerant  conduct  of  an 
ambitious  ecclesia.«;tic  named  DiotrepheSy  who  has  gone 
so  far  as  to  close  his  doors  on  "  the  brethren "  who 
had  come  in  the  apostle's  name,  apparently  bearing  a 
letter  from  him — perhaps  our  second  epistle  (verses  9-lo). 
The  aged  head  of  the  Church  in  Asia  feels  that  it  will 
be  necessary,  the  next  time  he  visits  the  district,  to  hold 
a  reckoning  with  the  offender  for  his  malice  and  pre- 
sumption. Meanwhile  he  warns  Gaius  against  being 
led  astray  by  the  example  of  Diotrephes  ;  and  in  pleasing 
contrast  he  refers  to  one  Denutrius — pwssibly  the  '*  silver- 
smith" of  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  24),  and  apparently  the 
bearer  of  this  letter — who  •*  hath  the  witness  of  all  men, 
and  of  the  truth  itself"  Finally  the  apostle  pleads  the 
same  excuse  for  his  brevity  as  he  does  in  the  case  of  the 
second  epistle,  viz.  that  he  hopes  soon  to  vuit  hii 
readers,  when  they  "shall  speak  face  to  face." 

'Acu  xix.  a9 ;  zs.  4 }  Rom.  xvu  sj ;  ■  Co*.  L  i^ 


ISO     NEW  TESTAMENT  6*  tTS   WRITERS 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

"Tme  REVELATIOW  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DITITni" 

THE  Anthor. — There  is  very  strong  external  eridence 
to  prove  that  this  book  was  written  by  the  Apostle 
John.  Passing  over  some  earlier  apparent  witnesses,  we 
find  unmistakable  mention  of  it  in  the  writings  of  Justin 
Martyr.  He  expressly  refers  to  it  as  the  work  of  the 
apostle,  in  the  dialogue  which  he  held  with  Trypho,  an 
unbelieving  Jew,  in  the  very  city  of  Ephesus  where  John 
lived,  and  within  half  a  century  after  his  death.  Equally 
clear  and  explicit  is  the  testimony  of  Irenaeus,  who,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  the  disciple  of 
John.  In  one  passage  of  his  writings,  Irensetu  even 
gives  as  his  authority  for  preferring  666  to  6i6  as  "the 
number  of  the  beast,"  in  the  disputed  reading  (xiiL  i8), 
the  testimony  of  those  who  had  seen  John  face  to 
face.  The  book  is  twice  mentioned  in  the  Canon  of 
the  Muratorian  Fragment,  once  in  such  a  way  as  to 
imply  that  it  was  publicly  read  in  church ;  it  was  one  ci 
the  books  on  which  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  wrote  a 
commentary  (about  170  A.  D.)  ;  and  it  is  expressly  quoted 
as  "  the  Scripture  "  in  the  letter  sent  by  the  persecuted 
Christians  of  Vienne  and  Lyons  to  their  brethren  in  Asi« 
Minor  (177  A.D.) 

But  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the 
book  began  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion,  owing  to  the 
use  made  of  it  by  a  heretical  party  called  the  Montanists, 
who   indulged    in   extravagant    noti(»is    r^;arding  the 


THE  RBVBLATOIN  OF  ST.  JOHN  151 

'•  thousand  yean**  of  Christ'f  reign  with  IIis  saints  which 
was  to  take  place  before  the  end  of  the  world  (xx.)  The 
feeling  of  distrust  was  strengthened  by  observing  what  a 
marked  difference  there  was  in  the  language  and  style  of 
the  Revelation  and  of  the  other  works  ascribed  to  John ; 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  controversy  took  place  on 
the  subject.  Ultimately,  however,  the  objections  were 
overruled,  and  the  book  obtained  general  acceptance  in 
the  Church. 

In  modem  times  the  controTersy  has  been  renewed  ; 
and  objectors  are  still  disposed  to  insist,  as  of  old,  on  the 
internal  marks  of  a  different  authorship  from  that  of  the 
fourth  Gospel.*  In  particular  it  is  pointed  out  that 
whereas  the  Gospel  is  written  in  good  Greek,  the  Revela- 
tion is  full  of  grammatical  mistakes  and  eccentricities } 
so  that  while  there  is  scarcely  anything  in  the  former  to 
show  that  the  writer  was  other  than  a  Greek,  the  lattei 
would  give  us  the  impression  of  its  having  been  written 
by  a  person  who  first  thought  in  Hebrew  and  had  after- 
wards to  turn  his  thoughts  into  a  language  with  whidi 
he  was  imperfectly  acquainted. 

To  meet  this  objection  the  following  considerations 
may  be  adduced  : — 

(i)  The  difference  in  the  nature  and  contents  of  the 
two  books  ;  the  one  being  mainly  narrative  or  colloquial, 
the  other  being  formed  on  the  model  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets.  (2)  The  possible  effect  on  the 
apostle  of  twenty  years'  residence  in  Ephesus,  in  the 
way  of  improving  his  knowledge  of  Greek.  (3)  The  un- 
favourable circumstances  under  which  he  appears  to  have 
written  the  Revelation  ;  and  the  possible  employment  by 
him  of  a  skilled  Greek  amanuensis  in  the  composition  of 
the  GospeL 

On  the  other  hand,  amid  all  the  diversity  between 
the  two  books  both  in  ideas  and  in  language,  there  are 
not  wanting  some  important  features  of  resemblance, 
betokening  an  identity  of  authorship. 

>  Th*  TQbingen  school,  however,  generally  admit 
dM  wcric  of  thfs  apostle,  and  reject  the  fourth  GospeL 


152      A'BIV   TESTAMENT  ^  ITS    WRH  LKS 

(1)  The  name  •♦  Lamb"  is  only  applied  to  the  Saviour 
in  the  fourth  Gospel  (i.  29,  36)  and  in  the  Revelation 
(v.  6,  8,  12,  etc.),  although  it  is  indirectly  referred  to  in 
I  Peter  i.  19  and  Acts  viii.  32.  In  like  manner  the 
name  *'Word"  is  only  applied  to  the  Saviour  in  the 
Gospel  of  John  (L  i,  etc.),  in  First  Epistle  of  John  (i.  i, 
"the  Word  of  life"),  and  in  the  Revelation  (xix.  13, 
"  The  Word  of  God  "). 

(2)  Some  of  John's  favourite  expressions,  such  as,  "he 
that  overcometh,"  "  witness  "  (noun  or  verb),  "  keep  (my) 
word,"  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Revelation. 

(3)  In  Revelation  i.  7  we  seem  to  have  an  echo  of 
John  xix.  34-37,  where  alone  the  piercing  of  our  Lord 
with  the  spear  is  recorded,  and  where  there  is  the 
same  quotation  of  Zech.  xiL  lo— in  the  same  unusual 
form. 

(4)  The  Greek  word  meaning  "true"  or  "real,"  in 
opposition  to  what  is  false  or  spurious,  occurs  nine  times 
in  St  John's  Gospel,  four  times  in  i  John,  and  ten 
times  in  the  Revelation ;  but  only  five  times  in  all  the 
rest  of  the  New  Testament. 

(5)  The  Revelation,  like  the  fourth  Gospel,  recognises 
our  Lord's  pre-eminence  and  His  title  to  divine  honours 
(i.  8,  17,  18;  iii.  14,  21  ;  v.  9,  13;  xix.  16;  xxii.  13). 

(6)  A  still  stronger  feature  of  resemblance  may  be 
seen  in  the  similarity  of  the  representations  which  the 
two  books  give  of  the  Saviour's  triumph  as  resulting  from 
successive  conflicts  terminating  in  apparent  and  temporary 
defeat.  In  these  conflicts  the  Gentiles  take  the  place 
held  by  the  unbelieving  Jews  in  the  Gospel ;  and  the 
"  disciples "  of  the  earlier  days  are  represented  by  the 
Church,  or  "the  bride"  (of  Christ). 

It  has  been  objected  that  the  Revelation,  unlike  the 
other  writings  of  John,  gives  the  name  of  its  avowed 
author  (i.  i,  4,  9 ;  xxii.  8).  But  this  is  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  the  prophetical  character  of  the  book. 
It  was  the  practice  of  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, although  not  of  the  historians,  to  mention  tbeix 
names  in  their  writings. 


THE  REVELATION  OlF  ST.  JOHN  153 

For  whom  written. — It  was  evidently  meant  fat 
the  Church  at  large — represented  by  **  the  seven  Churches 

which  are  in  Asia  "  (i.  4). 

Where  and  when  written.— From  i.  9  we  leam 

that  the  revelation  was  made  to  John  when  he  "  was  in 
the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos  "  (in  the  JEgczn  Sea)  *'  for 
the  word  of  Grod  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus."  From  L 
II  ;  X.  4  ;  xiv.  13  ;  xix.  9  ;  xxi.  5,  we  should  infer  that 
it  was  committed  to  writing  in  the  island  immediately  after 
it  was  received.  As  to  the  date  of  the  apostle's  banish- 
ment to  Patmos,  Irenaeus  expressly  mentions  that  the 
vision  was  seen  almost  within  his  own  generation  at  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian  (Emperor  81-96  A.D.) 
There  is  nothing  in  any  earlier  writer  to  throw  discredit 
on  this  statement ;  and  there  are  several  things  in  the 
book  itself  which  seem  to  point  to  a  late  date  of  composi- 
tion, e^.  the  appearance  of  marked  spiritual  declension 
in  several  of  the  Churches  addressed  (ii.  4-5;  iii.  1-2), 
the  use  of  the  expression  '•  the  Lord's  day  "  (i.  10),  instead 
of  the  earlier  "first  day  of  the  week,"  and  of  the  phrase 
**s5magogue  of  Satan"  (ii.  9;  iii.  9),  which  would 
scarcely  have  been  employed  by  a  Christian  writer 
previous  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

At  the  same  time  there  are  some  observations  by 
writers  later  than  Irenaeus  that  favour  an  earlier  date. 
Tertullian  tells  us  that  at  Rome  the  Apostle  John  was 
plunged  in  burning  oil,  without  sustaining  any  injury, 
and  that  he  was  afterwards  banished  to  an  island.  It  is 
in  connection  with  the  martyrdom  of  Peter  and  Paul 
that  he  makes  the  remark,  which  suggests  the  close  of 
Nero's  reign  as  the  time  referred  to ;  and  accordingly 
we  find  Jerome  (about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century) 
making  an  explicit  statement  to  that  effect.  It  is  quite 
possible  Irenaeus  may  have  made  a  mistake,  occasioned 
f)erhaps  by  the  frequency  of  banishment  in  the  reign 
of  Domitian ;  and  this  is  the  view  taken  by  some 
critics  at  the  present  day,  who  can  only  account  for 
the  style  and  character  of  the  book  on  the  supposition 
that    it    was    written    a   considerable    time    before    the 


X54      NEW  TESTAMENT  fir*  ITS    WRITERS 

Gospel.  Thr  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  book, 
they  conceive,  is  to  be  found  in  the  identification  of 
the  reigning  king  in  xvii.  lo  with  the  Emperor  Galba, 
the  successor  of  Nero.  The  latter  is  regarded  as  the 
head  of  the  beast  referred  to  in  xiii.  3,  the  healing  of 
Its  wf-und  symbolising  the  restoration  of  Nero,  who  was 
then  supposed  to  be  still  alive  and  in  hiding  in  the  East 
Confirmation  of  this  is  found  in  xvii.  8,  11,  and  also  in 
the  symbolical  "number  of  the  beast"  ("the  number  of 
a  man  .  .  ,  Six  hundred  and  sixty  and  six,"  xiii.  18),  which 
answers  in  Hebrew  letters  to  the  name  "  Neron  Cjesar." 
But  it  would  be  more  natural  to  reckon  the  number  10 
Greek  letters  (as  Irenaeus  did);  and  in  either  case  a 
correspondence  to  it  can  be  made  out  in  the  case  of  a 
great  many  other  prominent  names.  This  weakens  very 
much  the  force  of  the  argument,  for  **  we  cannot  infei 
much  from  the  fact  that  a  key  fits  the  lock,  if  it  is  a  lock, 
in  which  almost  any  key  will  turn." 

Its  Character  and  Contents. — The  Revelation  or 

Apocalypse  (a  Greek  word  meaning  *•  uncovering  ")  has 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
Both  t)ooks  consist  largely  of  prophecy  couched  in  the 
language  of  symbolism.  This  was  a  mode  of  expression 
frequently  adopted  by  Jewish  writers  towards  the  close 
of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  when  owing  to 
foreign  oppression  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to 
speak  plainly  in  matters  affecting  the  national  interests. 

The  central  theme  is  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  in 
a  magnificent  setting  of  imagery — designed  to  represent 
the  great  struggles  and  events  that  arc  to  precede  the 
final  consummation. 

••  After  the  Prologue,  which  occupies  the  first  eight 
verses,  there  follow  seven  sections — 

1.  The  letters  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia  (L  9- 
ilL  22). 

2.  The  Seven  Seals  (iv.-vii.) 

3.  The  Seven  Trumpets  (viii.-xi.) 

4.  The  Seven  Mystic  Figures — The  Sun -clothed 
Woman;  the   Red  Dragon;  the  Man-child;  the  Wild 


fHE   kEi't.L.-\noN  OP  ST.   JOHN  13- 


Beast  from  the  Sea  ;  the  Wild  Beast  from  the  Land  ; 
the  Lamb  on  Mount  Sion ;  the  Son  of  Man  on  the 
Cloud  (xii.-xiv.) 

5.  The  Seven  Vials  (XV. -xvL) 

6.  The  Doom  of  the  Foes  of  Christ  (xvii.-xx.) 

7.  The  Blessed  Consummation  (xxi.-xxii.  7).  The 
Epilogue  (xxii.  8-21)."^ 

The  unity  of  the  book  is  one  of  its  most  striking 
features ;  and  the  attempts  which  have  recently  been 
made  by  some  critics  to  assign  it  to  several  different 
authors  have  not  been  attended  with  success. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  interpretation  of 
the  Revelation  in  detail  is  still,  to  a  great  extent,  shrouded 
in  mystery.  Even  those  who  feel  assured  that  Nero  is 
the  man  represented  by  the  number  of  "  the  beast "  find 
themselves  beset  with  insuperable  difficulties  when  they 
come  to  deal  with  certain  portions  of  the  book,  while  in 
other  passages  their  theory  would  seem  to  imply  that 
some  of  the  predictions  of  the  Seer  were  very  soon  falsified 
by  events.  This  is  a  supposition  which  it  is  almost  as 
difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  Apocalypse  continued  to  be  held  by  tke  early  Church, 
as  with  its  divine  inspiration. 

The  safest  and  probably  the  truest  Interpretation  of 
the  book  is  to  regard  it  as  a  symbolic  representation  of 
great  principles  rather  than  as  a  collection  of  definite 
predictions.  In  other  words,  it  is  intended  for  the 
edification  and  comfort  of  Christ's  people,  not  to  give 
detailed  information  regarding  the  future  to  those  who 
are  clever  enough  to  solve  its  enigmas.  **  Here,  if  any- 
where, faith  and  love  are  the  key  to  knowledge,  not 
knowledge  the  key  to  faith  and  love.  It  is  in  the  very 
spirit  of  the  book,  not  in  a  spirit  hard  or  narrow  or 
unsympathetic,  that  it  closes  with  the  words  'the  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  the  saints.' "  * 

1  Farrar't  Metiagex  of  the  Books,  p.  saa 
S  Dr.  Milligan  on  the  Book  of  Revelation. 


fttfurilitr  evidtnct  regarding^  the  Date  and  Place  ofCompMiiUm. 
Me  the  d*mv  8«w  edition  0/  this  Uxt-book,  pp.  975-6,  t  GuiU 
Library  v«L»  p,  190* 

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